1- Weeknd Follow Up. You guys! I feel incredibly inspired by your comments and we even had a good chat this morning on the way to school about things to do this weekend.
(G is studying monarch butterflies in school so wanted to go to Butterfly World; A wants to paint her room which . . . well, we could at least start that process and maybe everyone could help).
2- If you want to be super depressed listen to this:
Quite honestly, I am personally pretty afraid. This episode WILL NOT help you to feel less afraid. I hope the guest (Eliezer Yudkowsky) is wrong.
3- If you want to then feel better, read this, which I discovered via Modern Mrs. Darcy:
Love the ideas in Julianna’s post. I suppose we might as well find ways to remain calm and enjoy ourselves while waiting for the aforementioned apocalypse. One of her ideas is to “get really into your planner” which I obviously vigorously endorse. ALSO, if you call a post ‘a syllabus’, I will 100% read it.
4- I am reading this, which possibly helped inspire yesterday’s post/train of thought. I remember hearing about it on a podcast and then impulsively ordering (this is common, and suggests I should try to get on lots of podcasts over the next few months, ha). So far we have not gotten to the practical advice part but I think it’s coming (I’m only on Chapter 2).
5- Other news: C had a PR race in his second-to-last cross country meet, I got a ‘pass’ on my last heart monitor (there happened to be a ~14 beat run of VT in there but my PVCs were way lower so they called it a win and I am happy with that!), and the Nova Scotia recaps keep on coming: here + here ( <– and it’s someone’s bday today 🙂 ).
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The AI stuff feels…precarious. Like one minute I’m blissfully unaware and then the next I think about how quickly this could cascade down through…everything.
And that analog article. LOVE IT! Also, NEED TO DO THIS!
If you would like a calming counterpoint, I recommend the podcast “Better Offline” with Ed Zitron. He has a newsletter, as well. He can be a bit hyperbolic, but it helps me feel a little better about the AI Apocalypse (though still not great). I especially recommend the episode with science writer Adam Becker, where they specifically discuss Eliezer Yudkowsky.
I absolutely want a calming counterpoint and will listen! Thank you!!
I started to listen to that Ezra podcast this morning. It makes me hate AI so much. I am trying to be more open-minded about the positive attributes but mostly it seems like it will have negative consequences and will likely result in the loss of jobs. Sigh. But I will listen to the other podcast recommended by Svetlana above.
Since your kids are such great eaters, I would make a bucket list of restaurants to visit in the Miami area! That would kill a good 1-3+ hours on a weekend and is something everyone could enjoy!
I have an 11 and 14 year old and the easiest/only way that we have been able to reduce weekend screentime (without nagging/yelling/threatening/being out of the house) is to have friends come over. Sometimes they end up watching a movie with friends or playing roblox but that doesn’t always happen-and when it does, it feels different because they seem to be talking the whole time.
Most weekends the girls have friends over at least one of the days. We did have to limit sleepovers to 1/month because it was getting too exhausting but besides that, it seems to help. Even this is a pain but is better than the mental space that used to be taken up worrying about it.
It’s funny…AI just seems really overhyped to me, and usually by those who have a financial incentive to do the hyping. And the others who hype it up are often doomer types that are generally wrong but sell fear for a living. So I take it all with a grain of salt. In any event, no one can predict the future and if it dooms all of us what are we supposed to do about it now??
definitely sounds like a reasonable perspective!!
Yes, I also think it helps to plan the things to do this Saturday and Sunday and that you got a ‘pass’ on your last heart monito and that the Nova Scotia recaps keep on coming, Dr. Sarah Hart-Unger. I think I have as many questions for Ms. Katherine Johnson Martinko as you do right now, Dr. Sarah Hart-Unger. I’m quite interested in what Ms. Ashley Graber and Ms. Maria Evans, 2 former guests on the BOBW podcast, think of Ms. Eliezer Yudkowsky and the episode “How Afraid of the AI Apocalypse Should We Be?” I’ve also commented on Ms. Julianna Salguero’s post.