The more I learn about the world, the less certain I become about it. There are so many conflicting views and information taken out of context that it’s hard to discern fact from truth. Below are some notes I keep to help navigate the sea of information that is modern society. TL;DR: Don’t get fooled by facts if they have no context, don’t discount an opinion because it’s biased, and hear out crazy ideas.

Here’s the problem with advertising AI-based technology that doesn’t exist: You cannot promise anything about your product. We’ve all seen AI advertised to the masses that doesn’t work as advertised, just look at any voice-to-text system. When I got my Apple Watch, I hoped to use it to respond to messages without getting distracted by my phone. I quickly realized that wasn’t a viable solution: I had to repeat my message multiple times per text in order to get the correct dictation.

Jeff stepped over a beer can, then over a water bottle and onto a mat, whose faded lettering vaguely resembled the phrase “Welcome!” He opened his front door and walked inside. Looking to his right, Jeff noticed his old hooded friend where he left him; on his living-room rocking chair. The cold metal scythe still in his lap, the skeleton hadn’t moved an inch from where he left him earlier that morning.

Some thoughts on Happiness: Happiness doesn’t come from wealth. Otherwise, therapists and anti-depressants would have to be much cheaper. If happiness came from consumption of goods and services, it would therefore follow that once those goods and services are reduced or cut off, one would no longer be as happy. If you can cut off happiness, it’s more akin to a drug than an emotion. “Close relationships, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy throughout their lives.

Introduction In this essay we will give a brief history of crytocurrency leading up to Bitcoin, give an overview of the Bitcoin protocol by summarizing key sections of the whitepaper, and briefly discuss Bitcoin’s use of cryptographical proof and computational security instead of trusted third parties within the protocol. History Bitcoin is far from original. Digital currencies date back as far as 1982, where David Chaum released a paper called "Blind Signatures", which formed the basis of a digital currency known as eCash.

What happened to “Don’t give out your name on the internet?” Within the past 15 years, the desire for online anonymity has vanished – as “normal people” joined the digital world, the number of “creepy people” worth hiding your identity from seems to have dropped in comparison. Despite the perceived safety of the online world, remaining anonymous still has its merits. Anonymity addresses ideas In an ideal world, political debate occurs detached from the people debating the topic.

Forgiveness has a negative connotation these days. We see forgiving each other as weak — as not standing by one’s values, as giving up one’s pride. This view is incredibly counter-productive and, in my opinion, the cause of many problems in today’s society. Here is the actual definition of forgiveness: forgive (verb) to cease to feel resentment against (an offender) Source: Merriam Webster This definition is all that forgiveness has to be — not pardoning or excusing someone for their actions, but instead letting go of anger towards them.

Choosing sides is fun. Be it politics or pop culture, nothing validates an opinion better than classifying opposing opinions as wrong. Sometimes, as seen by Holocaust deniers or the anti-vaccine movement, it’s possible people can be completely and utterly wrong. However, in the general case, both sides have merits and both sides have pitfalls. When trying to gain a perspective of the bigger picture, it’s best to position oneself somewhere in the middle.