Writing is my artistic expression. My keyboard is my brush. Words are my medium. My blog is my canvas. And committing to writing daily makes me feel like an artist.
Whenever you see a movie like the Matrix, data sets, information, and all storage are shown in cubes.
Even beyond the movies, it is clear that we represent the world on three axis: X, Y, and Z.
In the words of Joe Truss, these 3 axis are ‘necessary but not sufficient‘ to really understand the world we live in. We Live in a Tetraverse:
This is the first video in a series called ‘Book of Codes’, which over time you will help you discover for yourself the power you inherently have as a natural geometer. Join Joe and Dave Truss as they discuss the building blocks of a tetraverse… where the foundations of life, and everything in our universe is built around the unique geometric shapes that are comprised in the geometry of stacked and interlocking triangles.
The Book of Codes will awaken the natural geometer within you.
Some people spend their weekends watching sports… while the Super Bowl was on, I was putting the finishing touches on this video. That’s not a slag on anyone who enjoys watching sports, it’s just not my thing. What I do enjoy is nerding out and thinking about how I can use geometry to make sense of challenging ideas in mathematics and physics that are actually way beyond my capabilities to calculate and understand without the geometry. Thanks to Joe, I have almost weekly meetings on Sunday mornings to learn from him and to think deeply about the hidden geometry behind our universe and all life within it.
We record most of our meetings. This is hopefully the first of many we will share. While there are more videos to come, don’t expect them too soon… I only really get a chance to work on them on the weekends and editing video takes a lot of time. Still, I hope you enjoy this video, and as always, feedback is appreciated.
A future where we have conversations with an AI in order to have it do tasks for us is closer than you might think. Watch this clip, (full video here):
Imagine starting you day by asking an AI ‘assistant’, “What are the emails I need to look at today?” Then saying something like, “Respond to the first 2 for me, and draft an answer for the 3rd one for me to approve. And remind me what meetings I have today.” All while on the treadmill, or while shaving or even showering.
The AI calculates your calories used on your treadmill, and tracks what you eat, and even gives suggestions like, “You might want to add some protein to your meal, may I suggest eggs, you also have some tuna in the pantry, or a protein shake if you don’t want to make anything.”
Later you have the ever-present the AI in the room with you during a meeting and afterwards request of it, “Send us all a message with a summary of what we discussed, and include a ‘To Do’ list for each of us.”
Sitting for too long at work? The AI could suggest standing up, or using the stairs instead of the elevator. Hungry? Maybe your AI assistant recommends a snack because it read your sugar levels off of your watch’s health monitor, and it does this just as you are starting to feel hungry.
It could even remind you to call your mom, or do something kind for someone you love… and do so in a way that helps you feel good about it, not like it’s nagging you.
All this and a lot more without looking at a screen, or typing information into a laptop. This won’t be ready by the end of 2024, but it’s closer to 2024 than it is to 2030. This kind of futuristic engagement with a conversational AI is really just around the corner. And those ready to embrace it are really going to leave those who don’t behind, much like someone insisting on horse travel in an era of automobiles. Are you ready for the next level of AI?
This is an interesting time that we live in. I find myself in a position where I need to question my own values. I don’t do this lightly. I don’t pretend that my values have suddenly changed. It’s just that present circumstances put me at odds with my own beliefs around freedom of speech.
I am a strong believer in freedom of speech. I think that when a society sensors speech, they are on a dangerous path. I take this to an extreme. Except for slander, threats, and inciting violence, I think people have a right to say and believe what they want. I believe that taking away such freedom puts us on a perilous path where a select few get too much control, and can undermine our freedoms.
An example where I take this to the extreme would be agreeing with Noam Chomsky.
So now, even as an ardent defender of free speech, I find myself agreeing with YouTube’s decision to ban vaccine misinformation:
YouTube doesn’t allow content that poses a serious risk of egregious harm by spreading medical misinformation about currently administered vaccines that are approved and confirmed to be safe and effective by local health authorities and by the World Health Organization (WHO). This is limited to content that contradicts local health authorities’ or the WHO’s guidance on vaccine safety, efficacy, and ingredients.
Two, four, eight, or sixteen years ago when YouTube began, I would have screamed ‘Censorship!’ at the idea of a platform banning free speech. Even now it bothers me. But I think it is necessary. The first problem is that lies and misinformation are too easily shared, and spread too easily. The second problem is that the subject area is one where too many people do not have enough information to discern fact from fiction, science from pseudoscience. The third problem is that any authentic discussion about these topics is unevenly biased towards misinformation. This last point needs explanation.
If I wanted to argue with you that Zeus the Greek God produces lightning and thunder when he is angry, I think everyone today would say that I was stupid to think such a thing. However, if I was given an opportunity to debate a scientist on this in a public forum, what inadvertently happens is that my crazy idea now gets to have an equal amount of airtime with legitimate science. These two sides do not deserve equal airtime in a public, linkable, shareable format that appears to give my opinion an equal footing against scientific evidence.
Now when dealing with something as silly as believing in a thunder god is the topic, this isn’t a huge issue. But when it’s scientific sounding, persuading and fear mongering misinformation that can cause harm, that’s a totally different situation. When a single counter example, say for example a person having adverse effects from a vaccine, becomes a talking point, it’s hard to balance that in an argument with millions of people not having adverse effects and also drastically reducing their risk of a death the vaccine prevented. The one example, one data point, ends up being a scare tactic that works to convince some people hearing the argument that the millions of counter examples don’t matter. And when social media platforms feed similar, unbalanced but misleading information to people over and over again, and the social media algorithms share ‘similar’ next videos, or targeted misinformation, this actually gets dangerous. It threatens our ability to weigh fact from fiction, news from fake news, science from pseudoscience. It feeds and fosters ignorance.
I don’t know how else to fight this than to stop bad ideas from spreading by banning them?
This flies in the face of my beliefs about free speech, but I don’t know any alternative to prevent bad ideas from spreading faster than good ones. And so while I see censorship as inherently evil, it is a lesser evil to allowing ignorance to spread and go viral. And while it potentially opens a door to less freedom, and I have concerns about who makes the decision of what information should be banned, I’d rather see a ban like this attempted, than for us to continue to let really bad ideas spread.
I thought in this day and age common sense would prevail and there would be no need to censor most if not all free speech. However it seems that as a society, we just aren’t smart enough to discern truth from cleverly said fiction. So we need to stop the spread of bad ideas, even if that means less freedom to say anything we want.
I made a quick one minute video to show how I stick paper archery targets to a 3/4 inch puzzle mat, so that the target lasts longer and is easier to score on.
I got this tip from Jimi Ellis. In his video he makes a full adventure of the tip, with a visit to the store and some target shooting afterwards. It’s actually an archery practice vlog with the DIY tip thrown in. So I decided, why not make this a one-minute ‘How To’ DIY video… with credit to Jimi of course.
It doesn’t actually save any money, with the cost of mats and spray glue costing more than the extra paper targets would, but these are so, so much nicer to shoot on. When I come across something this good, I want to share it with others.
The first 3 tips are very basic, but I think thoughtful implementation of a good ‘backchanneller’ is something even seasoned presenters can benefit from.
I enjoy creating and sharing videos. My last one, though instructional, was a bit more creative. This one was focused on getting the information out while being both fast and informative. As always, feedback appreciated.
One of our teachers at Inquiry Hub Secondary, Ms. Yu, posted a video challenge on our all-school Microsoft Teams:
I whipped this video up yesterday. It was fun to do, and didn’t take that long to make.
Imagine trying to make this video 20 years ago. What equipment would you have needed? How many hours of editing would it have taken? Now, anyone can create a simple ‘How to’ video in a matter of minutes, or a couple hours if you want to edit it and add captions/music etc.
We live in a time when producing and sharing creative ideas is easier than ever. I’m connected to a lot of educators online that create and share amazing things with me. I’m also connected to educators that have so much to share, and they don’t. If you are the former, thank you for your contributions to my learning. If you are the later, what are you waiting for?
We were cleaning out our garage on Sunday and my wife was sorting things for a garage sale.
She came across 2 home repair books I’ve used in the past and asked me if we should keep them. “Yes”, I said, remembering one of the book’s usefulness when replacing a toilet. Then “Actually no”, I said, remembering that I haven’t looked at either of those books in years, having gone instead to YouTube.
Just the day before, I couldn’t figure out how to remove an old-style door knob from our basement, and I watched a young boy on YouTube show me how… with his small hands and an off-camera voice that could not have been more than 12 years old.
We are so lucky to live in an era where learning something new is always within our reach. Not just home repair, but new skills and new approaches to the way we think, learn, work, and play.
What are you currently trying to do that you couldn’t do before? How are you expanding your horizons?
“If you only do what you can do, you’ll never be more than you are.” ~ Shifu, Kung Fu Panda 3
To this day, I wonder how bullying is tolerated. To this day, it pains me that even though it wasn’t typical of me, I too could at one time bully. To this day I want to make this world a better place. Through spoken word, Shane Koyczan is doing so.
