What we don’t know always dwarfs what we do know. Wisdom is never forgetting that.
The Little Things
I’ve discovered personally that it’s in the little things where we fight our most important battles.
Attacking a Belief Structure
I’m reconsidering how I think about my country. It’s clear at this point that many of the assumptions I’ve made in my lifetime aren’t valid. I’ve projected my view of the person I want to be (and fail to be) onto my country. The population of the United States is not good, moral, acceptant, unselfish (generally), and caring. Neither do we see or care about the big picture, or the world in general. We only care about those last two if aspects of them impact us negatively and personally. This is the United States of America. This is who we are.
I have never had a day’s outcome impact my will to live like November 5, 2024, and I’ve lost a child.
Changes
One thing true love teaches us is that to really love someone, you have to accept all of them, not divide them into what you adore and what you’d change. You become wise enough to know that if you did change something, they wouldn’t be who they are.
When we failed
I remember a time when we could pretend we were voting _for_ something instead of _against_ something. Regardless of where we end up, the complete failure of the US political system is the true armageddon of our lives.
AI is a…
I find it incredible that the world is just now figuring out that AI is nothing more than a huge fast database. It doesn’t “think”. I knew this from the get go. We just aren’t far enough along to be able to create complex multipath logic and intuition from code. It’s gonna be fun watching the world collectively say, “um, sorry… we didn’t invent god”.
Computer Automation & Efficiency
Automation happens a little bit at a time. Too often folks (like me) who share things they’ve automated want to show _all_ the things they do to make computer usage more efficient. They create a monster that overwhelms the audience.
Automation and efficiency tweaks are the last things one does with a process. You have to know _what_ you want to do, know _how_ to do it, and be _able_ to do it manually before you can automate something effectively.
Becoming a Handhold
I’ve learned that one of the most effective ways of supporting someone you care about is to make sure they know you care about the little things in their life. Tell them outright.
Firmware Updates
History will note that the world changed the moment our lights could get firmware updates.
The Politics of Understanding
If you believe you can’t trust the Democrats, why would you think you can trust the Republicans? The concept that ideology drives actions or that actions define ideology is invalid. We must be very careful about our definitions, as two people who differ in opinion could be using different definitions for reference. If you truly want to discuss something and understand a perception, agree on the assumptions you’ll use for reference. Without that you just have people pretending to care. This is why we must talk things through.
Approaching Zero 