Being Happy

I must have confronted the facts of my adulthood only after I became J's mother. This describes how I felt after that. The degree of seeking and needing control ebbed and flowed over time but it never went away:

“What happens, as you get older, is you start to exert control, or at least influence, or try to get into control of things. And then people get a lot of anxiety when they realize the limits to their control. People are very aware of their vulnerabilities, yet still want to exert control. There’s this anxiety that comes from realizing you’re fragile and finite, yet you keep trying to manage or control that fragility.”

With J now an independent woman with a life of her own, my need and desire to control my environment have significantly diminished. I don't things as seriously as once used to. They matter much less if at all at this stage of my life. That is extremely liberating, but by this operating definition of what it means to be happy, I still have a ways to go:

..what a happy life means. It’s one that lives in the joyful space between control and passivity. It’s one that recognizes limits and lives with them. It’s jumping into the boxed walls of the sandpit to make castles and cities. Happiness is a monk dancing at a wedding.

Good List

Great reflection on educating children in the present world and things that have enduring value. There is a lot in this list for any generation just not school-age kids

Planning and carrying out projects - I have found it very satisfying to plan and execute on simple projects around the house, see the improvements. 

Non-academic writing - this blog which has been around for over twenty years.

Relating to humans: friendship, handling conflict, understanding others’ viewpoints, public speaking - the last one is not my favorite but when on occasion I have pushed myself to do it, its been rewarding. The rest are all the things one must work on and get better at continuously, it is being human.

Dealing with your own emotions - extremely valuable. Specially for a stressed-out parent who needs to find outlets for their emotions that bypass the children in their care. This is easier said than done and needs ongoing effort. 

Distinguishing between reliable and unreliable information - an essential, non-negotiable life skill

Creative projects like music, writing, art, game design - for me is writing and art. It's not about level of skill or natural talent. Just keeping at it and honing whatever I have to become a better version of me over time is plenty of satisfaction

Using your body: exercise, dance, sports - exercising in group is very therapeutic for me. For that period of time, I am in the zone with everyone else. My unique problems and issues have no room to breathe there and they die out for a bit, clearing space for new ideas, path to resolution.

Making physical stuff: cooking, building things - I love both and there is almost never a time when I am not in a mood to cook.

Outdoor projects: gardening, exploring - I am a very poor gardener and yet I am able to take pride in what little I have to show for my efforts. The facts that my plants have all survived is an accomplishment.

Keeping Up

My friend C was joking that her company has finally embraced Teams to "keep up with the times". They were using some antiquated software before that I had never heard of. That reminded me of this piece of news I had read a while back about a state in Germany dumping MS for good. 

Schleswig-Holstein’s decision to transition its public administration from Microsoft products to open-source software is a major step toward digital sovereignty and greater control over government data. They obviously had been ahead of the times for a long time judging by the move made by C's employer recently. By replacing Word, Excel, Outlook, and eventually Windows with alternatives like LibreOffice, Open-Xchange, and Linux, the state aims to reduce dependence on foreign tech giants, avoid unexpected costs, and keep sensitive information on German-run cloud systems. This move is driven by geopolitical concerns, cost considerations, and a desire to strengthen data security, reflecting a growing awareness of the risks posed by over-reliance on external vendors.

While the shift promises significant benefits in terms of cost savings and digital independence, it is not without challenges but the initiative sets a precedent for other governments, especially as new EU regulations encourage open-source adoption. This approach could inspire a broader movement toward more resilient, innovative, and collaborative digital ecosystems in public administration. Would love to see more of this happen in the private sector. I find it particularly aggravating that MS embeds copilot everywhere and adds close to no value anywhere. Maybe there are programming use cases it does better than it does for me on the occasions I have tried it and been disappointed. 

Making Whole

I found this story about the MIT-developed method for restoring classic paintings using AI very heart-warming. It is a striking example of how technology can serve both art and history. By dramatically reducing the time and cost required for restoration, from months or years to just hours, his innovation opens new possibilities for galleries and museums to preserve and display works that might otherwise remain hidden due to damage or limited resources.

There is something deeply moving about the idea that cutting-edge technology can help us reconnect with the past. The ability to digitally model a painting’s original appearance and then apply a reversible, protective mask means that restorers can experiment and correct mistakes without fear of harming the original. This respect for the artwork’s integrity is crucial, especially as we consider how future generations will interact with our cultural heritage. This part of the solution is truly amazing. If mistakes are not irreversible, it is easier to take chances. 

The world’s most visited art museums alone hold millions of artworks, and many more exist in smaller and regional institutions. It is safe to assume that a non-trivial number of these, potentially thousands, may be in need of restoration due to age, accidents, vandalism, or environmental factors. Now there could be path for these distressed paintings and a chance for the world to see the art so far hidden from view.

Surviving Business

This Economist story touts the cleverness of Duolingo as a business that is under direct assault from ChatGPT and the like but are still coming ahead. Apparently, that is the model to follow for others who haven't been quite as lucky:

Duolingo, a language-learning app. ChatGPT can imitate a half-decent French tutor and the cost to users of an AI-induced error is low. Nevertheless, shareholders are starting to think of Duolingo as an AI winner. In September it unveiled a video-chat feature that lets customers practise their language skills with an AI-generated character called Lily. On November 6th this sarcastic, purple-haired avatar joined the firm’s earnings call and presented its results. Analysts and investors swooned; the firm’s share price rose by 6% over the next few days. As AI upends more industries, clever innovation is the best way for would-be victims to escape their fate

Goes to show that if your product is indistinguishable from free AI offerings, your business model is vulnerable. However, if you can differentiate through unique features, superior user experience, privacy, or human expertise, you can still build a viable business, even in an AI-dominated landscape. The challenge is to deliver enough additional value to justify the price, not just to match what free tools can do.

Kicking Tires

 A few weekends ago Lovable was available for free to everyone to build anything they wanted. I tested it with the concept I am am developing as part of next year's product roadmap. To get a user interface design to the point where its good enough to get feedback traditionally takes weeks and months. The process is tiring and friction-prone. There are too many opinions and not enough data that leads to sub-optimal outcomes, even with rather mundane features. This is a complex multi-feature thing with a lot of UI components.

I wasn't sure what I was expecting when I started, giving Lovable a summary of my concept. In a couple of hours in which I also finished cooking dinner while the AI worked per my instructions, I had a fully clickable prototype that was good enough review with users. There are no novel elements in what I had asked for. Just putting things together a certain way to solve a specific problem. Nothing others have not done million times before. The fact that I got from start to a logical point this fast and this painlessly left me in awe. Getting from here to building something that will be enterprise grade is still a distance but the time saved from concept to a visual representation of that concept that users can react and respond to is absolutely fantastic

Tragic Hero

Farewell My Concubine was on my bucket list since it was released and caused such a stir. I watched it a few weeks ago and found myself thinking about it for days after. The details of the story and what it means in a very different time and place from where it is set. There was the obvious killing of a child's spirit to the point they no longer have an anchoring sense of who they are. The movie shows this unfold in ways that are specific to the era and the characters but there is a certain universality to the idea. If you want guarantees of performance and compliance then no better way than to subsume the child's mind into whatever those objectives are until they are no longer able to separate what they want and what is wanted of them. As parents, we are all likely guilty of this to some extent. We pass on our hopes and dreams to our kids. Sometimes, with that comes a tactic obligation to fulfill them and guilt is a natural byproduct of failing to do so. 

The loss of agency of the protagonist Cheng Dieyi is depicted in a raw, unvarnished manner. He simply cannot escape his fate because even resolving to escape requires agency he does not have. You wonder who or what he might been in other circumstances. Those are infact the questions anyone could ask about themselves. While not in nearly as tragic or barbaric conditions as he had to be grow up in, most people are victims of the hand they were dealt as children. The movie is visually gorgeous, every scene a work of art. It is long but flows at a pace that keeps the viewer engaged and interested. I found it hard to decide wish character I empathized with most - all three were tragic in their own way, even if Cheng Dieyi's sufferings were the worst.