Living inside-out

By Wayne Brown

I met a guy in Second Life last night. He sent a message on a group chat, asking how he could hook up with a cute twenty - something gal for a "date". 

Being a newbie, he had no idea what a pain it would be for anybody to accompany a total novice to a popular (i.e. laggy) sim for any reason, let alone romance.

But his main problem was his blank profile. I asked him, what do you bring to the table? Why would anybody want to know you. The group was divided. Some tried to help, suggesting places for a date, places to meet girls etc. Others picked up on the central problem, which was a guy shopping for a mate like he was buying a car.

Connecting in life is about what you can offer, not what others have to offer you. Every Christian child should learn this at his/her mother's knee (not many do). But it makes sense.

If you live your life within the boundaries of what folks are willing to give you (much less than what you really think you need), you will be unhappy and unfulfilled, even though your own happiness as the most fundamental goal in your life.

On the other hand, if the borders of your life are determined by what you can do to enhance the lives of others, it is boundless. Of course you can be pretty unhappy with this orientation (Ask any mother). Christianity is not a recipe for happiness (In fact it can get you killed). However, as it turns out, others often do give you what you need (not always what you wanted) and you do wind up happy, but with a much smaller pile of junk than you would  if you lived inside out. What's more, the folks who give you the most valuable things are those who expect nothing much in return. They are not living inside out.

But, but, but. 

You must claim the right to chose the ones you help. If you lay your life on the alter of obligations that were handed to you at birth or pounded into your brain in Church or High School, you can become desperately unhappy and useless. Sound familiar?


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Facebook and Bing - A Killer Combination

By Wayne Brown
Image
 This is a partial list of groups I belong to that focus on Generative AI art: Facebook creates community. I use BING as a kind of Generative AI university: BING U.  I prefer the role of student, so my job is to find good teachers. Think of me as the guy who shows you around the campus and knows his way around, but he's a student himself. Microsoft BING is free and very powerful. It's an excellent way to learn Generative AI and a standard tool that everyone in my imaginary school has. The way to find a teacher is to see their work in a Facebook group. Then, save the picture that caught your eye in a Word document (or document editor of your choice). For example ... Joe McIntosh What we have found here is not only the prompt for the picture but a teacher who shares the prompts for all his pictures. Look for artists who work primarily with BING. Don't get distracted by other platforms or techniques. Learn to do one thing well before shopping for better tools. The best Facebo
Read more

A Process ...

By Wayne Brown
Image
She will be 105 in September. She struggles to recognize her four children, let alone her countless grandchildren. Today, she said, "Nobody told me how to die." She has always wanted to die in her own home, an oversized place that has always had room for an endless parade of visitors. She has always been very "social." Although she struggles to remember the old friends dropping by, she chats happily "on automatic." There are a lot of relatives. She was raised on a farm near North Battleford, Saskatchewan, where her Russian parents raised 16 children. I asked "AI" - specifically Claude 3 Sonnet , to describe this situation in a short essay. I have taken the liberty of letting Grammarly , my AI writing assistant, make a few corrections to Sonnet's purple prose. This is the slightly edited version: She sits in  the twilight of her extraordinary life, a living embodiment of resilience and grace. At 105 years old, her eyes, dimmed by time, still h
Read more

Warp Speed Generative AI

By Wayne Brown
Image
Jump to Warp Speed Warp 2 Warp 3 Warp 4 "Warp Speed"  Illustration of " Language is a Virus " Laurie Anderson Completed in the time it takes to perform the song For a very long time, I have tried to master information processing tools and "wire" them together into a "machine" that suits my purpose. "Warp Speed Generative AI" combines several powerful families of AI tools to turn an idea into one or more pictures. Along the way, we get an explanation of the original idea, references and a detailed explanation of the style. I call it "Warp speed" because AI seems to give me whiplash as it takes my idea and runs with it. I just hang on and enjoy the ride. "Warp Speed" is a response to the current obsession with prompts: how to write them, when to share them, how to monetize them, what books to read, what courses to take and so forth. AI can write pretty good prompts. "Prompt Engineering" is an endangered speci
Read more