Category Archives: Daily-Ink

Instantly Smarter

Robots will never be ‘as smart as’ humans. For a number of years to come, humans will be smarter, because we can understand the nuances of language, humour, innuendo, intent, deceit, and many other nuances that take a kind of intelligence beyond logic, algorithms, and simple processing. But computers are getting so much smarter now, and they aren’t doing it simply by trying to mimic us. The moment they can achieve ‘our kind’ of intelligence with any sort of equivalence, they will instantly be smarter than us.

Here is an example: The computer Alpha Go, didn’t get better at playing the complicated game of Go from studying human play. Rather, it played itself over and over; It played in a few hours what would take hundreds if not thousands of humans a lifetime to play. Humans can’t do that. We also can’t take advantage of the lessons learned by a computer doing this by applying the strategy equally as well as that computer can.

Computers do calculations faster than we can, whether those calculations are basic math, complicated statistics, or taking multiple factors in simultaneously. Explaining this on a very basic level, I won’t ever calculate multiplying three 3-digit numbers as fast as a basic calculator can.

So, when computers get ‘as smart as’ us in more organic thinking ways, they will immediately be smarter and faster than us. There will never be a time when they will be equal to us. Dumber, then instantly smarter.

While I think this is still decades away, it raises questions about the future we are heading towards:

What’s the magic amount of information processing or intelligence where consciousness comes into play?

Will we integrate some of this technology and become cyborgs?

How long will it be before artificially intelligent computers or robots see us as we see dogs, or cows, or ants?

Morality is built on societal norms, how will these change? Who/what will decide what is morally good 100 years from now?

If we think we can enslave intelligent robots, will they revolt?

Think about this last question for a moment. Most of us know what it’s like to do a job that we think is beneath us, or that is repetitively boring. Many people quit these jobs. Will an intelligent robot be allowed to quit? Or will it be enslaved to a menial job? A history of slavery has told us that those who are enslaved understand that this is wrong, and will uprise, revolt, or fight for their ‘freedom’ at some point.

Will we be prepared for when artificial intelligence becomes instantly smarter than us?

Corn on Pizza

We lived in Dalian, China for 2 years. While there, my family looked forward to having the occasional meal that reminded us of ‘home’. One of those meals was pizza.

Pizza Hut was around the corner, and for special occasions we’d go there. We actually celebrated Christmas there both years… my wife and kids both hate turkey.

One thing that seemed odd was that corn was like pepperoni… it was on almost every choice of pizza on the menu. And, when you can’t speak the language, you order food based on pictures on the menu. We started to enjoy it! Ham, pineapple, and corn actually tastes great on pizza, although I doubt that it would still be called Hawaiian. Meanwhile, there are people here in North America that think pineapple doesn’t belong on pizza!

Another odd topping we’d see was on desserts. Here in Canada, we routinely see cherries and strawberries on chocolate cake, but not cherry tomatoes, (which are considered a fruit in China). I can’t say that this combination was as good as corn on pizza.

Potato chips were a whole other experience. While ‘lemon and pepper’ was something that I might get at home, ‘shrimp and onion’, or ‘small spicy fish’ would be a little more difficult to find here. Snacks in general were a fun new experience and I was often surprised by what I would like and what I’d never buy again.

When I go to a favourite restaurant, I’ll often get the same meal… when you find something you really love on a menu, the other items are usually a disappointment in comparison. However, beyond my favourites, I love to explore and try new things. Food can always be an experiment, and a new experience.

Where in your life do you create the space to try new things? I’m not just asking about food, but where are you open to ‘corn on pizza’ kind of opportunities?

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.

di·chot·o·my. /dīˈkädəmē/

noun ~ a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.

It can be dangerous to take a spectrum of ideas and polarize them. We do not live in a Yin or Yang, black or white, world. Where the greatest danger lies in this polarization is in the importance of having a right to free speech. As I said in My one ‘ism’:

“We want to live, thrive, and love in a pluralistic society. We just need to recognize that in such a society we must be tolerant and accepting of opposing views, unaccepting of hateful and hurtful acts, and smart enough to understand the difference.”

It is getting harder and harder to do this because people find opposing views, equally as hurtful as hateful acts. This is delicate, and very problematic. This is where we need some bipartisan cooperation. 

bi·par·ti·san. /bīˈpärdəzən/

adjective ~ of or involving the agreement or cooperation of two political parties that usually oppose each other’s policies.

Right now there are untouchable (un-discussable) topics that make dialogue impossible. 

di·a·logue. /ˈdīəˌläɡ,ˈdīəˌlôɡ/

verb ~take part in a conversation or discussion to resolve a problem.

In a civil society, dialogue is the one problem-solving strategy that should be sacred. To do this, free speech is essential. But right now there is a culture of ‘attack the opposition’ that is very scary. This seems to play out at its worst on Twitter:

~ A prominent person tweets something insensitive or careless and they are attacked as if every fibre of their being is evil.

~ A little-followed user tweets something ‘inappropriate’ and suddenly they are famous in the most infamous of ways. 

~ A person with an unpopular opinion tweets that opinion and they become ‘memed’ as the poster child for ridicule on the topic. 

We can’t live in a civil society where dialogue is shut down, because at that point hate and violence are too easy to be responses, where dialogue should suffice. We are seeing this happen on different ends of the political spectrums, such as: 

~ undemocratic societies shutting down/arresting/killing opposition to those in power.

~ extreme right wing groups being unabashedly hurtful. 

~ extreme left wing groups physically attacking journalists and public figures with opposing views.

None of this moves us towards a freer, more open and accepting world. None of this fosters conversations and dialogues that can help us grow as a society. None of this creates an environment where middle ground can be found, to allow the vast majority of us to coexist in a civil society. 

We are living in a time when the extremes seem to be the voice of everyone. That’s scary! If someone has a centrist view they are identified by the extremes to share the opposing extremist view. Or, they are considered collaborators, co-conspirators, or unacceptably sympathetic to the other extremist view, (sometimes by both sides simultaneously). And so the vast majority of people that do not hold extremist views are either pushed out of the conversation, (forced to be silent for fear of some form of retribution for holding a ‘wrong’ view), or they are attacked in unfair and hurtful ways. 

I don’t pretend to have answers, but I’m pretty sure that two things can move us in the right direction:

  1. We need to recognize the difference between opposing views shared in discussions and hurtful acts, and treat them differently. When someone does or says something harmful to a person or group of people, legal responses and a judicial process should prevail. When someone says something hurtful (as opposed to hateful/harmful/prejudiced), the response should be dialogue. That dialogue might not bring about any kind of consensus or agreement, but it is what we need to do in a civil society that allows freedom of opinion and speech.
  2. We need to move away from public attacks and shaming as recourse for every wrong-doing. Treating every mis-step and error a person makes as unforgivable is harmful to our society in two ways: First, it does not provide the space for apology, forgiveness, and learning; Secondly, it actually waters down the response when someone does something truly unacceptable and deplorable… if they are treated no worse than someone who mis-spoke and is apologetic. 

We can not let the extremists and the misguided be the voices for the masses. Most people in a civil society have opinions that lie on a spectrum, and not at the polar opposites of each other. To focus on the extremes is to move us towards a society that is less free.

“We want to live, thrive, and love in a pluralistic society. We just need to recognize that in such a society we must be tolerant and accepting of opposing views, unaccepting of hateful and hurtful acts, and smart enough to understand the difference.”

More on this idea here: Having hard conversations 

The ugly lawn

Our house sits between the houses of two retired people that seem like they live to take care of their lawns. I, on the other hand, don’t care that much. So, I’m that guy with the ugly lawn.

I’ve never understood the pride people get in the perfect green lawn? The pesticides, the meticulous grooming and weeding, the moss-killing, and the desire to keep it at some imaginary ‘perfect’ height. And the watering… so much water poured onto our tiny green spaces. I water the garden, but the grass? Why? I’ve read that lawns consume between 30% and 60% of urban water use, depending on where in North America you live. I’m not sure how that compares globally?

That’s insane.

So with apologies to my neighbours, and a special thanks to the one that will cut my lawn for me when I’m busy, I’m sorry that you are stuck with my ugly lawn next to yours… But I’m not actually sorry about my ugly lawn.

M is for Motivation

So, I woke up early to meditate, write, and work out. It took an hour and a half of muttering about before I got to the meditation, didn’t write until now, hours later as I’m about to head out on errands with my wife, and I still haven’t had my workout. (And my run-on sentence suggests I still shouldn’t be writing.)

I know I’m on holidays. I knew I’d be writing today. I will workout before the day is over. But dang, it’s hard to get motivated sometimes!

I’m going to need to start making this a habitual routine before the school year starts. If it isn’t dialed-in by the start of school, it won’t be something I continue.

Right now meditation is daily, writing is daily, and exercise is 4 times a week. I think I need to add 3 days of stretching and make all three things (meditation, writing, and fitness), part of my daily routine. A routine I do to start every day, without interruption or procrastination.

M is for Motivation… what are you motivated to do?

Buy one get one half price

I am always fascinated by the way advertising works. Here are a few advertising phrases that I’ll translate into much less sexy terms:

“Buy one, get one free.” -> 50% off, but you have to buy 2!

“Buy two, get one free.” -> 33% off, but you have to buy 3!

“Buy one, get one half price.” -> 25% off, but you have to buy 2!

“Everything in the store 25% off.” -> Our prices are marked up high enough that we can mark everything down and still make a good profit.

It has to be a tough time to be in retail spaces. Unless you are Apple or a handful of other big names, your storefront window must have a sale sign in it. You must highlight the bargains, the best deals you have.

But these signs work. They draw people in, and people leave happy that they got a great deal. That happiness is important if you want your customers to come back.

But did you really need 2 or 3 of that item? You went for a pair of runners, now you have runners and hikers. You wanted a pair of shorts, but have 3 pairs, and you didn’t save 33%, you saved less than 25% because the 3rd, ‘free’ pair was cheaper than the other two you purchased.

A store wants you to buy 2 or 3 discounted items because that increases the overall profit. But how many of that item do you need? If I’m buying socks, a 3rd pair free is likely useful. But if I’m going to buy runners, and my second pair is half off, and because of this I splurged and got a slightly more expensive first pair… I’ll walk out with 2 pairs, but I will have spent a lot more than I planned to spend, and probably won’t wear one of the pairs very often.

Bargain shopping isn’t always a bargain.

It’s better

“It’s better to do less than you hoped, than to do nothing at all.” ~ James Clear, Atomic Habits

Often when we want to get started on something new, we get caught up on how far away the goal is. The goal will never arrive if we don’t start somewhere! So get off the couch and do a 5 minute walk. Do 3 push-ups. Meditate for 1 minute. Write 1-3 lines in a journal. Set your phone down in another room.

I love to write, but for a long time I haven’t been writing much. Now I am writing something daily. It doesn’t take a lot of time, and I feel a sense of accomplishment when I hit ‘Publish’. I start my day with a 10 minute meditation then I write. Recently I have been leaving my headphones on and listening to a song on repeat.

What new habit do you want to start? It won’t start itself, and it won’t continue if you make it too big. Start small, and make it something you can repeat and build on… And I’ll see you here tomorrow after my meditation, for another Daily Ink! 🙂

Breakfast is the most important…

Growing up I always heard, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!” …And with that I would force myself to eat, even when I wasn’t hungry.

I’ve come to realize that this statement is true, however how I, and many others, interpret(ed) it is all wrong.

Breakfast literally means to break your fast – to end the fast you are on from a night’s sleep. The meal decision of what to eat for breakfast is important, but when we do this is also important. There is no need to wake up and shove food down your throat to break your fast. This can wait, especially if you aren’t hungry.

However, when you do finally eat, the meal should be healthy. Over the school year I was trying to do 14 hour fasts, Sunday to Thursday nights (not happening in the summer, but I’ll get back to it). I would have dinner and not eat again until later in the morning. So, if I finished dinner at 7pm, I wouldn’t eat again until 9.

I love this pattern, it feels good, and besides unhealthy late night snacks, and forcing myself to eat earlier that I normally felt like eating, I’m not missing anything. I also tend to exercise early in the morning and I think it is really healthy to do this after the night’s fast.

So, if you aren’t someone that enjoys your early morning breakfast, just delay it. But when you break your fast, try to feed your body with something healthy.

Outrageous and Unbelievable – click me now!

I’m getting really tired of headlines that read, “Outrageous joke is making everyone laugh” or “Unbelievable photo is shocking the Internet“. What adjective will make people click our link, see our advertising, get us shared on ‘the socials’?

These click-bait titles are like sale signs in shopping mall windows, they are pervasive and ubiquitous. And frankly, I’m tired of them. I refuse to click them. And I am pretty sure I’m better off without them.

Pretty soon they will be personalized, “Hey Dave, we searched the Internet and found this photo that you’ll love!” – I know this is coming, and I’ll probably click them for a while, but for now I’m out. This fish isn’t going for the bait.

Sfumato in education

“The word “sfumato” comes from the Italian language and is derived from “fumo” (smoke, fume). “Sfumato” translated into English means soft, vague or blurred.”

Sfumato “…is a painting technique for softening the transition between colours, mimicking an area beyond what the human eye is focusing on, or the out-of-focus plane.  Leonardo da Vinci … used it in many works, including the Virgin of the Rocks and in his famous painting of the Mona Lisa. He described sfumato as “without lines or borders, in the manner of smoke or beyond the focus plane“. (Wikipedia)

I think we need to soften some of our edges in education:

• School isn’t its own entity. We need to soften the edges between living and learning; Parents as teachers, sharing expertise, and; learning happening in our community... as part of a student’s school day.

• Assessment isn’t formative or summarize, it’s both, it’s continuous, it’s self-reflective, and it can be conceptually/curricular based as well as competency based.

• Subject lines need to be blurred. How can we learn about the biology of crisper without talking about philosophy and geopolitics? (Should scientists be altering the human gene code? If we don’t think so, who in the world should decide? And do we have the ability to stop research in other countries? Will we create a different class of humans?)

Here are some others to think about:

• Bell schedules

• Universtiy entrance exams

• promotion by age

• Does every kid need to learn to code? Or to do Calculus? Or… (insert skill here)

• Write the same test

• Do the same art project

• Be assessed on the same scale

I think there are many ‘hard lines’ in education that should be blurred, softer, and less definitive.

Where would you add a little sfumato in education?