This week I have learned: to stop looking at the news quite so much. It doesn't help. that the eulogies to Graham Taylor are still causing me to well up. Thanks GT. You'll be missed. the free range game is one where you invest emotional energy into the ones that you want to win, but … Continue reading Weeknote 324: ups and downs
My wife and I argue about thermostats. After this article we'll probably argue about thermostats and my blogging. I see a room or car thermostat as a device to set a target temperature for the space in which it sits. If I'm too cold, I judge whether to increase the temperature a bit. If I'm … Continue reading Hot under the collar
This week I have learned: - to never be surprised that people can still be sold the magic of software independently of the hard work of change. - that literally nothing will seemingly now surprise me about the stuff that spouts out of the DJT's Twitter about account. - it's all about timing, basically. - … Continue reading Weeknote 323: half a minute closer to Doomsday
At the end of my street is the reasonably busy road that links the suburbs of Teddington and Kingston. At peak times the traffic can pass slowly, sometimes queuing in one or both directions. Even at non-peak times there is a constant flow of cars in both directions. Taking a right turn North out of … Continue reading All in a glance
In conversation yesterday I realised that I've developed an occasional habit of defining alternatives to the Turing Test as ways of understanding quite how far away Artificial Intelligence really is. Here's the compilation... https://twitter.com/ballantine70/status/542986402800365568 An observation that humans are getting quite good at being able to parse complete gibberish that is the result of "AI" autocorrect … Continue reading New Turing Tests
There's a free ticket available for the Customer Experience World event at which I'm speaking next month. All you need to do is send you answer to the following question: What is the percentage of people using Twitter for Customer Service now? a) 60% b) 70% c) 55% by email to sandie@thefocusgroup.org.uk T&Cs here: http://www.focusgroupevents.com/CEW-Digital-2017/competition
This week I have learned: realising the short-term nature of everything (relatively) is a spur to action. I need to make it more so. I have found my next wave of book-writing motivation. It actually just happened, didn't it? The Orange Man. Actually in power. At what point does perseverance turn into the Sunk Cost … Continue reading Weeknote 322: trumped
Computers are very good at following rules. It's kind of what they do. If you look at the recent landmark advances in machine intelligence, they are generally in one of two camps: using artificial intelligence to excel in a rules-boundaried domain (playing Chess, Go, Jeopardy, Poker, the markets and so on), or alternatively to use masses … Continue reading Following rules
2016 was a year in which there was a seemingly endless series of announcements of deaths of people in the public eye. Many of those deaths seemed tragically too early. And in maudlin moments I pondered on who it would be whose demise would really knock me back. There was only one person. And it … Continue reading Weeknote 321: Taylor-made army
Let me paint you a picture. In sound. The metaphors that we have to describe how the future might be are incredibly biased towards things visual. We talk about "visions", not "hearings". We are, if you listen to the neuro-linguistic geeks, incredibly visual in our preferences for how we receive information. A picture paints a … Continue reading Audiomented reality
mmitII 