When ChatGPT and similar systems started being available, people noticed right away that they could provide completely wrong answers. But they would do so in language that was so confident and plausible (because that is how they are designed). Some people started to say “ChatGPT lies about information”. But somewhat immediately, people started pushing back and saying that it isn’t “lying” because that implies sentience or consciousness. Say it is “lying” is “anthropomorphizing”, i.e. attributing human behavior to something that is very definitely not human. Instead, some people said, let’s refer to this false information as “hallucinations”, as that is…
Apr 08
Do AI Systems Lie, Hallucinate, or Confabulate? (I’ll go for “lying”)
When ChatGPT and similar systems started being available, people noticed right away that they could provide completely wrong answers. But they would do so in language that was so confident and plausible (because that is how they are designed). Some people started to say “ChatGPT lies about information”. But somewhat immediately, people started pushing back and saying that it isn’t “lying” because that implies sentience or consciousness. Say it is “lying” is “anthropomorphizing”, i.e. attributing human behavior to something that is very definitely not human. Instead, some people said, let’s refer to this false information as “hallucinations”, as that is…
Mar 14
After Almost 15 Years, Saying Goodbye to Evernote (and Moving to Obsidian)
On April 8, 2008, I started using Evernote as a place to store all my various notes. It would come to be a critical part of my daily workflow… so much so that I became a paying customer back in 2011 or so. Today, March 13, 2023, I uninstalled it from my devices. I’m done. It’s been a long time coming. Way back in 2012 I was super frustrated with how they destroyed the Skitch application with its 2.0 release. And yet I kept using Evernote because it had become my central repository. And… I hung on long enough that…
Mar 14
After Almost 15 Years, Saying Goodbye to Evernote (and Moving to Obsidian)
UPDATE – 2 Jan 2024 – Back in July 2023, the Obsidian team announced an officially-supported “Importer” plugin that includes the ability to import from Evernote. This sounds easier than the method I outline below using YARLE. I have not tried this new “Importer” plugin (because I already migrated from Evernote!), but you may want to go try that new plugin before doing what I outline below. On April 8, 2008, I started using Evernote as a place to store all my various notes. It would come to be a critical part of my daily workflow… so much so that…
Mar 13
Three Years Ago Today, Vermont Shut Down Due to COVID-19
Today I was wondering why “March 13” was pulling at the back of my brain as a date of some importance… and then I realized why. Three years ago today, everything changed. It was on Friday, March 13, 2020, that Governor Phil Scott issued Executive Order 01-20, “Declaration of State of Emergency in Response to COVID-19 and National Guard Call-Out”. It imposed visitor restrictions at hospitals and state facilities, restricted travel by state employees, prohibited large gatherings, and called up the National Guard to assist. The Executive Order did not itself shut down schools, but it directed the Secretary of…
Mar 13
Three Years Ago Today, Vermont Shut Down Due to COVID-19
Today I was wondering why “March 13” was pulling at the back of my brain as a date of some importance… and then I realized why. Three years ago today, everything changed. It was on Friday, March 13, 2020, that Governor Phil Scott issued Executive Order 01-20, “Declaration of State of Emergency in Response to COVID-19 and National Guard Call-Out”. It imposed visitor restrictions at hospitals and state facilities, restricted travel by state employees, prohibited large gatherings, and called up the National Guard to assist. The Executive Order did not itself shut down schools, but it directed the Secretary of…
Mar 07
Waking Up at Times Beginning With A "4"
For most of 50 years, I held very firm to the belief that the ONLY time I should ever see a time beginning with a “4” in the morning was when I needed to get up and go to the airport to catch an early flight. Otherwise, any time like 4:30am was just downright uncivil and hostile. I should be asleep at that time. I should NEVER be awake at times beginning with a 4. And yet… here I am writing this post at 4:55am. 🤷♂️ What happened? Well, our dog got older! (And I might have, too.😉) For some…
Feb 26
The Single Biggest Thing Preventing Me From Doing More Writing Is…
As I’ve frequently lamented in my yearly themes (although not this year), I would like to get myself to write more. And back on December 1, 2022, I tried to commit to #100DaysOfBlogging, but that hasn’t worked out so well. I’ve been watching how I spend my time lately, and to I’m sure the surprise of absolutely NO ONE, including myself, it would seem the single biggest thing preventing me from doing more writing is… getting distracted by social media! 🤣🤣🤣 Take this morning. I was awake early at around 5:00am (courtesy of our wonderful but early-rising dog) and I…
Feb 12
Listening to Hear Versus Listening to Fix
In the last six months or so, I have had an unpleasant revelation about myself. I realized that for most of my 55 years of life whenever I’ve been listening to people, I’ve been listening to offer “fixes”, i.e. solutions. You’ve probably done this yourself at some point. The classic example is something like: Someone: “Ugh.. my legs hurt so much from " Me: “Oh, that’s rough! You should take two ibuprofen. You’ll feel better!" There I was, jumping in with a solution and trying to help. But here’s the…
Feb 05
The Awesome Clarity of Prioritizing Health
There is an awesome clarity that comes when you have very clear priorities – and in my case one of those is my health. As I alluded to in my three words for 2023, I’ve had a couple of recent minor incidents that have brought this home to me. A key one was back in November 2022 when I went for a routine colonoscopy. Having had colon cancer, this was my three year checkup and all was great. No signs of cancer and everything looked good. BUT… they had to keep me a bit afterward in the recovery area until…
