Author Archives: David Truss

2020 Vision – 3 predictions

Here are ways that I think digital content and content sharing are going to change in 2020:

1. More subscription-based online content without commercials.

Ad revenue sites will not be able to compete. This is the perfect time for a good micro-payment site to come along (imagine Medium blogs, but a ‘clap’ (or ‘Like’) is a 1 or 5 cent donation, or think of Twitch, which already has audiences paying for people to share content). However, while subscriptions for content will grow significantly, micro-payments will only just start to get a foothold in 2020.

2. Privacy concerns will reshape what and how we share.

Google and Facebook will both see dips in revenue and growth because people will choose to not search signed in (or choose to use private search like DuckDuckGo or private browsers like Brave). Facebook will have more advertising based/click-bait sharing, but less personal sharing. People won’t be complaining about privacy as much as just being cautious about what they share, and consciously sharing less personal information.

3. There is going to be an explosion of paid content infomercials.

You will be reading an article and suddenly there is a product placement you were not expecting. For example, in #1 above I mentioned Medium blogs and Twitch, and in #2 I mentioned DuckDuckGo and Brave. I could also have added links to them with a detailed sentences or a paragraph about them, intentionally ‘selling’ them as part of this post. Product placement within blog and news articles will be the new equivalent of the banner ad.

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I have not been a fan of paywalls and content hidden for subscription only, but I think that good, commercial free content will cost money in the future. You will either pay for the content, or you will give up personal information, or you will see imbedded advertising hidden in the content you read. Creators of good content are going to start providing teaser content where you either subscribe to see more, or just click to accept a micropayment to continue.

The advertising model will adapt and there will be even more click bait articles, but instead of making you click 10 pages to see 10 photos of some ‘amazing’ list surrounded by advertising, you will see the first 2 then pay 1-5 cents to see the next 8. We will still need to be discerning consumers if we want to get to the good content we are interested in, and we will have to be willing to pay a bit to continue reading, listening, or watching.

Lifestyle as process, not outcome

I love this quote:

New goals don’t deliver new results. New lifestyles do.

And a lifestyle is not an outcome, it is a process. For this reason, all of your energy should go into building better habits, not chasing better results. ~ James Clear, author of Atomic Habits.

Regular fitness, listening to audio books while I work out (and instead of the radio in my car), regular writing, time restricted eating, and daily meditation… these are lifestyle choices I made, I track daily, and I hold myself accountable to.

This year I made lifestyle choices that have made me feel so much better about myself.

Result: I have more of myself to offer to others, family and work. Sure, I still feel overwhelmed at times, and I still feel like I’ve got more on my plate than I can handle, but I also feel more resilient and up for the challenge.

Lifestyle is a process, not an outcome, and I’m working on that process daily. As I approach my one-year anniversary of tracking these things, I now need to reexamine my process. What am I now doing regardless of my tracking, that is now habit, and what do I need to track more closely to ensure I’m refining the process, and my habits, to make my lifestyle even richer and more rewarding?

The Bell Curve of Free Will by David Truss

The Bell Curve of Free Will

Assuming Free Will: There are some interesting and compelling arguments that we do not have free will, and according to Sam Harris, that it is only an illusion. I will address this at another time, because my thoughts on this are not fully formed. I need to read and understand more, but my general thesis on this topic is that the black box of our unconscious mind is only ever opened through bizarre dreams, deep meditation, and psychedelic drug use… all of which suggests metaphorical images and thoughts that seems to transcend logic and linear processing. If that is the case, I highly doubt that our will is somehow ordained by our past experiences in some sequential domino effect. And while our conscious minds might not grasp the true decision-making processes of our unconscious mind, that does not remove the fact that our unconscious mind acts, to some extent, freely… even if our history, our circumstances, and our virtue (among other things) might influence and restrict how much freedom of choice we have.

For now, I want to assume that we all have free will. Given this, I’d like to look at The Bell Curve of Free Will that I constructed to describe my thoughts on this topic.

My Premise:

If we have free will then I believe that how much choice we have will be influenced considerably by our circumstance and by how virtuous we are.

Background on the Graph: I should have created 2 different graphs, one for circumstance and one for virtue, but the dotted line showing how one influences the other is important. Further, I could have created charts about how our choices are increased or limited based on many different factors, like our health, our culture or religion, or our parents. I chose circumstance and virtue because they are easy to connect in my example, and highly influential to our free will, or our lack of ability to make choices.

Here is the image I created:

Circumstance and Free Will: If you are destitute or impoverished, if you are in a situation where you are unsafe or starving, your choices are very limited. You are more likely to go to extreme measures to improve your safety or well-being, at any cost including illegal, unreasonable, or unconscionable means, even if you wouldn’t want to do these things if your circumstances are different. You will act to protect or feed yourself and your family and those reasons overrule reasons you would otherwise have to not do something desperate. However, your circumstances limit you from doing things many other people could easily choose to do.

On the other hand, if you are affluent and have a lot of influence, the choices you get to make are significantly greater than if you are destitute. From living arrangements, to choice of foods, to freedom to travel, to caring for your loved ones, an affluent person can make so many choices and have so much freedom to make those choices compared to those that are only thinking of survival or their next meal. This isn’t a bell curve, this is a direct relationship where affluence and power, or lack of these, directly influence the amount of choice a person has.

Virtue and Free Will: The vast majority of people have a lot of choice and free will, while people on the extremes of the virtue scale do not. If you are a genuinely evil person who gets pleasure out of being hurtful and evil, you are probably limited in your choice and ability to do good deeds and make kind choices. When you are angry, your choices become more limited, your reactions to circumstance are less likely to provide you with more options that if you were more level-headed.

On the other extreme, if you are extremely virtuous and benevolent, you simply could not make choices that are hurtful to others. You have more limited choice because your virtue would compel you to do ‘the right thing’ and not choose other options that are less kind, even if for example, they benefit you. Your choices become limited because you would not have the options that others would in your place. Mother Theresa probably could not choose to walk away from her charity, her virtue would not allow it.

High Virtue and High Affluence: This is shown by the dotted green line on the graph.

Affluence and influence do not necessarily result in endless choice. More virtuous people, who are also affluent, are compelled to be in the service of others and to use their means for good. Their affluence might provide more choice and means for them to do this, but if they are truly virtuous then they would be compelled towards using their affluence and influence in ways that demonstrate their virtuousness, thus reducing their will do to other things.

As a side note: I have seen many instances where people with very little means have gone out of their way to be generous and kind. And, our world is filled with many affluent and influential people who could be more virtuous and choose not to be so… even when it would mean far less sacrifice for them. Bill Gates explained this succinctly:

“My charitable giving is not impressive. What’s impressive is people who give to charities who have to sacrifice something to give it to him. In my family, we don’t even hesitate to buy yet another airplane. But there are people who have to choose, do I go out to dinner? Or do I give this $20 to my church? That’s a very different decision than I make. Those are the people that impress me.” ~ Bill Gates

An inherent flaw in putting these two graphs together is that an unintended extrapolation could be that the impoverished can not be virtuous, With this insight, here is one aspect of the two-in-one graph that is not shown, but should be noted:

High Virtue and Low Affluence: On both ends of these two scales the choice is limited, and so free will would be further diminished. As an example: A devout and benevolent monk or priest who is in the same destitute situation as someone equally as impoverished (but less virtuous) could not choose to harm or steal from someone even if it was to feed his/her own family.

Final Thoughts: I wonder if conscientious people who think about philosophy, and/or are compelled towards the sciences to do ‘good’, and make a difference in the world, are more likely to believe that there is no such thing as free will… since by nature of their virtues, they have less free will than someone that is not as concerned about the well-being of humanity? In a way, I could have titled this graph ‘The Curse of Free Will’ because either you are cursed to be evil, or you are cursed to be kind, since in both cases you are allotted less choice in life, less free will. Is it somehow more blissful and less restrictive to live a somewhat selfish life? Is our propensity towards this unenlightened life the reason religions are born? If free will does not lead us to be more virtuous, what does?

 

Our faulty user interfaces

We know that bees can see ultraviolet light that humans can not see. We know that dogs and other animals can hear sounds that humans can not hear. Scientists understand Newton’s laws, until the laws fall apart when studying the smallest of particles and objects traveling at very fast speeds. When we look for light to act light a particle it acts like a particle and when we look for light to act like a wave it acts like a wave… we still don’t really understand all there is to know about light.

And yet somehow we think we have a grasp on reality. We don’t. We do not yet have a full scientific grasp of our universe, we don’t even understand what consciousness is. What we do know is that our perception of the world is based on models of the world and not actually the world itself. We have very faulty user interfaces, insufficient sensors, that warp our perception of reality.

Think about the diversity of human perception for a moment. We know that there are people who can not see colour. There are even people who see colours that are not present, like Daniel Tammet, ‘The Boy With The Incredible Brain‘.

Watching this video makes me think about how my user interface differs from someone with autism, someone who might be overloaded with stimulus (information) in the environment that does not overwhelm me, and who might at the same time be blind (or at least unaware) of facial expressions that I find easy to read or interpret. Even for those that can interpret facial expressions, this is not an exact science and so we are each noticing different things with some people being far more perceptive than others.

Take this another step further and think of the incompleteness of the memories that we have. We make lousy eyewitnesses, and we reconstruct memories slightly differently over time. This is even more exaggerated when we add heightened emotions to an event.  Have you ever heard someone talking about an experience from an emotional standpoint arguing with someone talking about the same experience from a logical standpoint? It’s like they are living in two different realities. In fact, each and every one of us perceive the world in drastically different ways, and our emotional state influences our perception, and our ability to recall our experience.

Our user interface with the world is not accurate, we know this, but we also know that the world isn’t just an illusion. We know the sun emits light and heat, we can see the light on surfaces in our field of vision, and we can feel the heat on our faces. But I can’t know that my experience of the colour blue is exactly like yours, or that my comfort with the heat of the sun is similar to yours either. But I wonder how much our upbringing, and the culture we live in influence how we interpret the world around us?

I remember learning in an anthropology class that some tribes that live in the dense forest struggle with the idea of seeing an image of an animal in the distance as an animal that is far way, instead thinking of them as tiny animals. Their model of the world does not include a full-sized tiger that can be seen a hundred meters away. Their visual perception of the world is different than someone raised in a desert.

How else does our environment that we live in influence what we can and do perceive? How does our politics, our ethics, and our beliefs influence our perception?

How different is my world from your world? And what consensuses can we come to in order to make it a better world for everyone?

Giving from the heart

I love this video:

I’ve consistently noticed that kids will be selfless when they have an opportunity to show their love and appreciation for family. I’ve also noticed that this generosity increases with students who have less than most. That’s worth reflecting on!

On the topic of giving, here is a wonderful story about how an Inquiry Hub student, Andrew, ended up raising an incredible amount of money for Covenant House.

Andrew is continuing to raise money for them this year. If you are inclined to support homeless youth and youth in need, please consider a contribution.

Thank you and happy holidays ahead!

Windows and doors

A closed windows let you see what is beyond your reach. Closed doors do not.

Closed windows still let you envision where you can go, while shut doors block your view and your path.

When windows open, they let fresh air in. When doors open, they let you out.

Windows of opportunity can provide you with the chance to see what’s possible, but you can’t get there until the door is open and you are ready to step through it.

Are you a viewer or a doer?

Most doors do not open themselves.

The last chapter of a book

I’m listening to a novel right now. That’s unusual because I usually wait until holiday breaks to read for pleasure, choosing instead to read (or listen) for learning. But I was done my last book and my new credit on Audible isn’t available for another couple days, so I picked up a cheap and popular Sci-Fi novel for a bargain on Black Friday.

When I get on the treadmill at about 5:30am this morning, I’ll put my headphones on and listen to the final chapter. I’m looking forward to this, but I’m also saddened by this as well.

I love the journey a good book takes you on. It doesn’t have to be a happy book, it just has to be an adventure. The heroes journey often takes the protagonist home at the end, but the journey is unforgettable. The last chapter is seldom climatic, it just offers resolution and closure. The rollercoaster ride is over, and you are parked back at the start of the ride, but there is time to reflect on the ride before the safety belt unlocks.

I love a good adventure, I don’t really enjoy ending it. Closure is melancholy to me. I remember reading once that the two things humans struggle with most in life are beginnings and endings, of these two it is endings that I struggle with more.

It’s time to get on the treadmill, and to close the final chapter of this book.

The fluid nature of time

It will only take a minute, so indulge me and give this a try. Start a stop watch, close your eyes, relax, and without counting in your head, try to stop it after one minute.

How did you do?

We count seconds between lightning and thunder to see if a storm is getting closer, but when else do we keep track of seconds?

Sports teams hold time outs and the play gets stopped. Often in the final minutes and seconds of games like American Football and basketball, these stoppages can make a few seconds take an eternity to play out.

And on the other hand, we roll our eyes and get frustrated when a web page takes 3 seconds to load… forgetting the days of dial-up when a page with a simple image would take 15-45 seconds, and a large file might fail to load after several minutes.

Our relationship to time is changing. We used to hear and even feel the sound of a clock or a watch second-hand ticking. Now a second is an unfelt moment that sweeps by on a stop watch that also measures tenths and hundredths of a second just as easily as seconds.

How does the concept of time differ for people today, when they are never alone and bored? Do kids ever feel bored the way I did, when they are entertained and/or connected to other kids through their phones? On demand friends, on demand videos, on demand games must surely alter their perception of time. Does boredom come faster or slower to someone with such a different experience growing up?

At 52, the years seem to go quicker than they did when I was 26 or 13. Is that because a year of my life now is relatively less of my total life than when I was younger? Or are there external factors influencing my perception?

I’m reminded of this poem:

If you want to know the value of one year, just ask a student who failed a course. 

If you want to know the value of one month, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby. 

If you want to know the value of one hour, ask the lovers waiting to meet. 

If you want to know the value of one minute, ask the person who just missed the bus. 

If you want to know the value of one second, ask the person who just escaped death in a car accident. 

And if you want to know the value of one-hundredth of a second, ask the athlete who won a silver medal in the Olympics. ~ Marc Levy

I understand that our perception of time differs due to our experience. An hour of boredom feels like it lasts considerably longer than an hour socializing with friends. But beyond that does it feel to you, like it does to me, that time moves much more quickly now?

In on the laugh

I don’t get it? Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t feel I’m in on it.

I went to a movie tonight, it wasn’t a comedy, but it had a few laughs in it. One of the funnier moments was also in the movie trailer and it got the biggest laugh of the night… but not from me.

Why not from me? I’d seen it already. To me it is much less funny the second time. But I’ve noticed for years and years of going to movie theatres that the pre-watched comedy in the movie trailer often gets the bigger laughs.

Why is that? Is it because theatre goers want to share their experience with others? Is it ‘safe’ to be vocal because everyone knows the punchline? Is it fulfilling because everyone gets to be in on the laugh?

What is it in human nature that makes this a thing? Whatever it is, I don’t think I have it. I don’t feel like I’m in on the laugh… but a lot of people do.

What am I missing?

a quick look back

A quick look back

I was playing around with scheduling posts late Thursday night. I had already planned to share Missing out – The Art of Miscommunication as my Friday post, when I decided to write and share Harnessing the Power and Potential of Social Media to Build Learning Communities #CDNedtech19 as a resource for the round table discussion I was running at the conference Friday afternoon. So, I thought the ‘Missing out‘ post could be today’s Daily-Ink. However, I made a mistake and ended up publishing them both yesterday morning. So, today I thought I’d take a look back and share some of the more popular posts so far:

  1. Asking your kids the right questions  A question like this is so much more powerful than, ‘What did you do at school today?’, or ‘What did you get on your test?’, or ‘Did you have fun?’ Simply asking the question, “Who did you help today?” tells a kid what you value.
  2. Good enough is good enough, now share it! At school, I watch perfectionism crush students. It completely overwhelms and debilitates them. It’s sad to see highly capable students buried under the weight of something not being good enough to hand in, when while it may not be their best work it actually is good enough.
  3. Some kids… Some kids are hard to like. They don’t want to make an effort to connect. They are defiant. They don’t want your approval, or maybe they do, but they sabotage their own efforts because that don’t believe they’ll get your approval even if they try.
  4. 3 ways that people are digitally evil I’m a huge fan of Twitter. I think it is a tool that has a challenging entry point, but with a little help and advice, it can be a powerful place to learn and build a great PLN. It can also be used for evil.
  5. Update on routines For me daily blogging is a powerful learning tool. I get to reflect on my learning and on life. And I enjoy the process of being creative, rather than passively watching TV or sports. Here are a few things that have made this sustainable for me… 
  6. Flawed message I’ve seen this post a few times now and while it has a message that will get a lot of ‘shares’ and ‘likes’ on social media, it completely misses the points it should want to make. Here are my 2 biggest issues with the post…
  7. The Vampire Rule for Email So like a vampire at the front door, I can’t enter (with email) if I have something to share that is not initiated (and therefore invited in) by my staff.
  8. “Start off hard” But what’s the purpose or intention of ‘going in hard’? What is it that is being achieved? Is it a need to manage behaviour? Is it control of the class? Is it that you need to assert dominance?
  9. I got this It was mayhem. I saw a sea of arms, flailing, splashing, and colliding, despite my instructions to ‘stay right’, and not to flip turn with so many people in each lane. This was crazy, what did I get myself into? I can’t do this!

This final post I’m sharing isn’t as popular as the ones above, but it is something I enjoyed writing, and I think it has an important message:

10. Ideas on a Spectrum The world seems so bipolar right now! Topics that used to be on an ideological or political spectrum have become dichotomies.

I’ve enjoyed writing daily since mid July. My routines (see #5 above) have made it a habit that is sustainable and much less like work. To be honest, I haven’t spent a lot of time looking at the stats, and it was nice to look at them for this post. While I don’t have a huge audience, and I am writing primarily for myself, it does feel good to know there is an audience out there. And with that, I would like to thank you for taking the time to join me, even if just occasionally, on my daily writing journey.