At a football game in rural South Carolina and the band’s halftime show is Dungeon and Dragons themed.
“When you are losing money, you can’t make it up in volume.”
A seasoned insurance executive told me this once, explaining why we were abandoning a project we had spent significant time and money on. I think about this sometimes when I see financials for some of these AI companies.
I like Snickers. I like Banana Nut Bread. I like limited edition candy. We’ll see if I like this.
Sometimes, I wonder how people would feel about AI if the initial LLM hype was framed as “This is going to make a 30-hour work week possible.” Instead they went with “This is going to cause massive unemployment and maybe destroy the world.”
I always love when the backup quaterback comes in and kicks ass. Case Keenum has had quite the game for da Bears tonight.
Gamecock Women’s Basketball preseason starts tomorrow.
A personal AI philosophy
I attended a conference this week and one of the speakers spoke about the ethics of AI. He did so in way that I felt was very thoughtful and considered. I won’t attempt to summarize details of his whole talk, but one of the things he encouraged was to develop your own personal philosophy when it comes to AI. What uses are acceptable to you, and what lines will you not cross? Funny enough, I’d added a section to my “About Bob” page that essentially outlined my philosophy under the heading “What is your stance on AI?”:
I do not use large language models (LLMs) to write posts on bobwertz.com or any of my sites. I’m also strongly opposed to using generative AI imagery. I believe that LLMs were largely trained on creative materials without permission, and as such, they are remixing stolen intellectual property. Also, in general, AI imagery sucks. I’m an artist and I can draw it myself. I use an AI feature of Micro.Blog to add alt descriptions to my pictures. The computer is better at describing the image than I am, and I feel like having alt tags on my website is important. I also use the ChatGPT service my university provides to assist with simple coding and troubleshooting.
I’m happy with this as a start. For me, I’m hesitant to throw AI at everything, but I can’t deny that in some situations, AI is helpful. I’m concerned about the environmental impact, but I’m just as concerned about the intellectual property theft. As systems uses less resources and as new models are (hopefully) ethically trained, my opinions might shift. We’ll see…
Bob Wertz is a type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
Last night, my son asked me to help him with a problem on his physics homework. I solved the problem in an unconventional way using geometry, but I solved it correctly. Completely baffled him. This morning, he had notecards prepared to tell me how we were supposed to solve it. He also got 106 on his physics quiz today and I remembered some of the trigonometry that I’ve long forgotten. So I guess we both learned something.
I’m always amused that one of the first things I ever designed — a poster from 1996 promoting the University of South Carolina’s Homecoming events – is framed and displayed on the third floor of the Russell House student union with other Homecoming Posters from over the years.
I’m currently writing my dissertation on the factors that shape new logo reactions… and I’m going to have to add a few paragraphs about this McLaren redesign.
I enjoyed this blog post about why people should have personal web sites, and not just rely on social media for their online presence:
What I like about personal websites is not only that the content can vary from person to person. The entire website can.
I need to spend some time getting ready for comps so I took the day off and I’m working from one of my favorite coffee shops in town, Loveland. I’ve lucky to have such an awesome independent coffee shop near my house, but even more lucky that I got one of the awesome window seats.
Ryan went to his first Homecoming dance tonight.
Marcin Wichary shared his design bookshelf, complete with a loupe to let you enlarge and explore. Click on a book for more info. Such a fun way to do this. (I even found some books to add to my reading list.)
Another fun little digital camera with a vintage form factor. This one takes the shape of a 110 film-sized point and shoot.
Just watched Max v 100 on ESPN/Disney+. Max Verstappen, 100 go cart competitors, and chaos. Even better than I expected. Simply lovely.
Drawing lines
In society and on social media, there are a lot of people drawing lines.
I know that I draw some lines…
- I left Twitter because I felt like Elon Musk changed the service to something that didn’t align with my values.
- I got rid of my 37 Signals/Basecamp books after DHH started sharing his view of the world.
- I avoid Hobby Lobby like the plague.
- I refuse to go to the Melting Pot in my city because it’s owned by my state representative who happens to be part of the S.C. Freedom Caucus and has supported problematic legislation.
- I wouldn’t use Substack because I know they platform people with hateful ideologies.
- I think prediction markets are scams.
- I unfollow bullies on social media, even if I agree with them.
Other lines are more difficult to draw…
- Joss Whedon created some of my favorite shows, but turned out to be a jerk. I still watch the shows, but I admittedly enjoy them less.
- I read every book and watched every movie of the Harry Potter series. J.K. Rowling uses her immense wealth to fund transphobic causes. I likely won’t watch the new series.
- I’m a lifelong Cubs fan, but I don’t love the politics of the current owners, the Rickets family. I still cheer on PCA and my Cubbies.
- I’m critical of how data centers harm the environment and I avoid using generative AI for imagery, but I also see legitimate and timesaving uses for AI in my life.
- Chick-Fil-A. It’s tasty. Especially for breakfast. But the late founder’s views don’t align with my views.
- I use Threads, but I dislike Meta. I mostly stay away from Facebook and Instagram.
Sometimes, other people draw lines that include you…
- I live in South Carolina, and I routinely see people hate on my home state for various political reasons. Some criticism is deserved. Some isn’t. But this is home and it’s not as red as you think. Especially not Columbia.
- Some people hate Apple and ridicule their customers. I love my Apple devices, even if I know the company isn’t always on the side of the angels.
- I work in higher ed and am a Ph.D. student. Some people hate universities right now. That’s okay, I used to work in insurance and the hate was much more intense.
- I still shop at Target and Amazon.
- I’m an ELCA Lutheran, which is one of the more liberal Protestant denominations. But as a Christian, I’m often lumped in with ultra conservative denominations who have totally different theology.
Sometimes, people get upset when other folks draw their lines differently. While I advocate for causes I believe in, I don’t get too hung up on where people draw their particular line. Boundaries shift over time. For me, I stay open minded to new viewpoints, and my lines change as new information becomes available. I hope others do the same as well.
Bob Wertz is a type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
This new Instax could be a fun digital camera to play around with… Clever adaptation of the design language of film cameras. A preview screen on top, a viewfinder on the back, and a “advance” lever to switch modes.
It’s amazing how I can study a topic for years, and then randomly come upon an article from 2015 that’s incredibly relevant to my dissertation. How did I not find this article earlier…?