Journal 2023-05-28

The resources to improve oneself are all available online. Most people (including me) are bogged down with the distractions.

I’ve got a lot of work to do – too much for little me with the time available. I have to become good at prioritising and focusing. What is it that really matters?

The most important skill in life is to be able to focus attention on where you are, without being distracted by repetitive thoughts.

If speed is an indicator of intelligence then I have been extremely thick.

Any realisations I have were already given to me. I was too stupid/arrogant to absorb the suggestions.

I memorise and conceptualise better by taking notes as information is relayed.

The best way for me to fall asleep is to think of stories. I imagine scenes and I drift away.

Random Thoughts

Being positive makes you happier and everyone you interact with happier as well.

Today I walked past a coffee shop in the rain and noticed through the window a woman with a beautiful smile for her book. She looked delighted to be in the world she was visiting.

There should be a social media platform exclusively for doggy and cat profiles. Verified humans could offer services, such as dog walking, cat sitting etc.

I don’t think humans would like it if a technology were developed that translates animal thoughts into words. Some meows would be “back off ridiculous human.” Some woofs would be “why are you so mean to me?” Some squeals would be “please don’t kill me.”

Sci-fi? The portal encasing the solar system controls what it wants us to see. We are living within its enclosure, under its gaze.

Random Thoughts

Everyone does stupid things. Everyone’s judgement is at times clouded by wrong thoughts. The real error is to compound the effects by not noticing the cause.

Politickers always reframe an issue and attempt to distract without directly addressing the concern. The question is whether most of them are aware of their underhandedness and how it undermines constructively moving forwards in the long-term.

An Improvement Loop

Listening improves thinking; 

thinking improves reading; 

reading improves writing; 

writing improves speaking...

Journal 2023-03-07

I’m currently writing a horror short story about a haunted elevator, called Floor 49. As well as scary, it is also satirising big corporations.

I’ve recently written a series of flash fiction stories; the screenplay versions will be included as a collection of Strange Stories. Floor 49 will be included as the feature.

How soon before some humans start to fall in love with AIs? Presumably they would want to cement their relationships in some way? A sci-fi (dystopian) concept: the AIs engineer their code to DNA so that they can have children with humans. The children are born as cyborgs.

My phone would be extremely annoying if I didn’t schedule the turning off of notifications for set times in the day. Most people don’t do this and get beeped at all day. Badges are turned off on emails as well, so I can check them as a batch rather than diverting attention for each instance.

Random Thoughts

Some people love to complain. That is a gap in the market for a “Complaints Service” company, a place where people can visit and complain about anything as much as they like. A premium service could be offered for the ultra-enthusiasts.

It would save a lot of time if restaurants only served cardboard food optimised to look good on Instagram stories.

Thank you to anyone who has been kind to me. I bear no ill-will to those who haven’t.

Journal 2023-02-22

I had a dream where I thought I had a very good idea of establishing a coordinate system for each snooker ball, so that positions could be tracked over time across frames and matches. I woke up and thought, er so what? Another dream was more useful and correctly pointed out spelling mistakes.

Detect the problem; diagnose its cause; execute a plan for its resolution. For it to benefit you, frame it as a challenge: What is being learned? What opportunity does it present?

People are great actors because they really believe in their personalities. One of the best compliments I’ve had was when someone felt they had an epiphany and said to me, “you’re not one thing.” It’s a compliment because we all have to play archetypes as part of life; the mistake is thinking that is you. A curious, fluid mind-state is important because as archetypes inevitably tire in the losing battle against entropy, they become increasingly desperate, angry, and unhappy; and in some cases, crazed and cruel. All things change, great statues will turn to dust. Liberation is freedom from static constraints.

Since party politics mainly involves delivering prepared lines from prompts, can’t we just get the chatbots to do the job?

Random (Jokey) Thoughts

The offices of the future will optimise human creativity. Many people have their best thoughts in the shower, so offices will be open plan shower rooms, with shampoo optional. Bathtubs will be for brainstorming. Hot tubs for important meetings.

The most unsuitable person for a leadership position is someone who is obsessed with their own power, status, and money. Yet these are the people recruited for. Why can’t recruiters just be open about it? – “only sociopaths need apply.” Questions could be like, how would you literally throw someone under a bus, frame someone else and take the credit for their work in improving bus health and safety standards?

Pretending to listen saves so much time. You can instead be thinking about how much you don’t want to be there.

I’m confused – Does a “fairy tale” romance involve being left in the forest with some bread crumbs and a wolf?

I feel like more of a writer when in Colchester and more of a performer when in London.

I did a lot of laughing today. Today was a good day.

Random Thoughts

If you are feeling lonely, sit in the dark. After a while, the monsters will make you feel like you are not alone anymore.

My bed is a mystical place where the events of the day transform – where I suddenly remember all the things I forgot to say and do; where tomorrow is a distorted mirror showing my darkest fears feeding on an imagined past; where the monsters come and say “hi” and refuse to let me sleep. Even though I’ve been tired all day, my bed is where I become wide awake.

If society is crazy, then going crazy is just being normal.

There is no need to dwell on mistakes if you have learnt their lessons. Don’t then regret the mistakes - because the more mistakes you have made the more you have learnt.

Instead of just asking for examples of success, interviewers should ask about how frequently the candidate fails. The ideal candidates make mistakes every day because they are trying at what they do, not merely implementing the same old templates.

A very important part of the release of any person’s potential is the bravery to take steps away from the crowd, not mindlessly conforming to groupthink and social expectations. It’s okay to fear if you do it anyway.

The short timespans of our lives serve as a reminder to release who you are while you have the opportunity to do so.

I’m where the best version of me would have been when he was 18.

Random (Jokey) Thoughts

It’s weird. When someone’s phone breaks, you actually have to talk to their non-filtered, non-avatar version, like back in ancient times. It takes some getting used to! ;)

As well as being able to slay the Witch-king of Angmar because she was “no living man,” Éowyn would have been able to approach and flick the nose of any “man-eating” tiger.

Elephants are experts at camouflage. That’s why they are so rarely noticed when one of them is in the room.

We won’t notice intelligent life in the universe if we are looking for ourselves. The real challenge is to continue the search for some intelligence down here on Earth.

Was Mrs. Bennet the archetype for Mrs. Gradgrind?

Random Thoughts

Amongst more auspicious outcomes, these two disastrous scenarios are possible for our near future: the extinction of humanity; or a dystopian, psychopath-controlled world. Under the malevolent central control of all-encompassing surveillance and “guidance” technology, and without any hope of the system’s collapse, the latter outcome is even worse than the former. The times we live in are truly pivotal for humanity.

What if aliens reproduce by transmitting their code around the universe, looking for computers to run their programs? The request “Take me to your leader” would lead to the supercomputer that powers ChatGPT.

Watching Bergman and Tarkovsky films ruined my digestion of Hollywood’s cookie-cut CGI cartoons (movies).

If you have nothing to add to a meeting, you shouldn’t be there. Information can be imparted in better ways, like a written summary.

Journal 2023-02-04

I’ve been writing some poems as guides for when I am improvising lyrics for songs. The words sound a lot better when sung rather than when read on a page because lyrics only complete their meaning when married to the music.

Random Thoughts:

The weight of an issue is usually determined by the emotional force of the past, rather than being proportional to its real likelihood and impact.

The true objective of a game is enjoyment.

If you were 100 feet tall, would a tiger be like a kitty cat?

Random Thoughts

Do I believe in God? That question is loaded with assumptions about both belief and God. Do I take as fact the doctrines concerning reality written by people in past civilisations? – No. However, there shouldn’t be a one-dimensional graded scale for belief that merely gauges the percentage probability of religious dogma being correct. The metaphysical understanding that most resonates with me is that there is a soul of the universe, in which we are all a part. There is no insistence on certainty here; this is a non-falsifiable interpretation of experience driven by internal feeling, not logical deduction – and in no way does it affect any commitment to a rigorous investigation of the world using the scientific method. So where do I feature on the belief scale?

God is hope. A hope that the universe is ultimately love; that all the suffering will be overcome; that life will be saved from despair; and that despite everything, it will all be okay.

For any existence after death to be desirable, it would have to be outside of time and space, and completely beyond our current comprehension of reality – as even a limitless abundance of joy would become meaningless within the causes and effects of endless time.

What if people start to prefer artificial companions over humans? Silicone imitations are already starting to become realistic; and the AI personalities could be tailored to individual requirements. Is reproduction going to be outsourced, like in Huxley’s Brave New World?

Random Thoughts

Creating something great isn’t the same as temporary popularity, as the latter can be mere pumped up, generic mania – and not necessarily correlated with merit. To do anything well, the basics need to be mastered; this involves studying how the best do what they do, and, initially at least, learning by imitation. When you fully commit to bringing an understanding of yourself and your own idiosyncrasies into your work, using all the tools you have gathered, you then have the freedom to break the constraints and produce something worthwhile.

It is exasperating when someone answers a consequential question authoritatively, and then a simple lookup reveals them to be factually wrong. It means either they are deluded, deceitful or deliberately bluffing their assuredness.

Some people enjoy killing and being the cause of misery to others. These people sometimes control countries - because they are relentlessly driven in their machinations by an unquenchable thirst for power. The more authoritarian the country the greater the opportunity for them to commit their atrocities.

After the reckless destruction of war, countries need investment to rebuild and grow again. Governments and businesses need to place trust in that country as a partner, and, ideally, the country would have friends who want to help (or at least be seen to help). Russia has destroyed that for itself. Their future instead could be as a client state of China, a place that is hungry for imports of food and energy. The Chinese Communist Party of course wants to centrally control everything and view Russia as a colonialist nation that stole parts of its land (Vladivostok) when China was at a comparative low point in the nineteenth century.

Random Thoughts

I’ve had a barren spell for a while now where no music or lyrics were coming to me, until this week when I’ve suddenly written seven songs. It’s a real mystery to me how this happens, as I was actually preoccupied with other things.

It is a privilege to have time to spend over and above mere survival. The moments of non-necessity should be valued as precious opportunities to explore and play.

It’s obvious isn’t it, that Russia will forcibly conscript many more men? The Kremlin has no chance otherwise of conquest and of saving Putin’s rotting carcass. Tens of thousands of them will die, thanks to their dear leader. The world is gradually ratcheting up overwhelming technological and economic support to people defending their country, while Russia continues to descend into madness.

In terms of diabolical intrigue, Putin would have been far more successful in his 19th century ambitions for empire if he had slowly ignited the Donbas, and gradually spread his death and destruction to the other regions of Ukraine, rather than invading and doing something so stupid even career politicians can notice. This is the problem of autocracy, particularly when the position is occupied by a murderous sociopath. He was living in the past, completely out of touch with the realities on the ground and fooled by his own propaganda. He was wrong about the motivations of others and delusional about his own capabilities; because he was living in a fantastical myth-land, fashioned by his own insanity, that spread throughout the system, corrupting everything.

The Soviet Union was a regime run by serial killers that murdered tens of millions of people and enslaved the rest, imprisoning them in fear and lies. The death and destruction of today is because the main bulk of that abomination has never fully faced up to the gigantic evil of its past.

Random Thoughts

Over the years I have put in 10,000 hours of gazing out of the window.

My mind meandered off path again and I wrote a comedy script about a day in the life of a very interesting accountant.

Ulysses can be admired for its cleverness; and avoided if sensitive to pretentiousness or boredom.

Edgar Alan Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin (the deducing gentleman detective, residing with his storytelling friend at 33 Rue Dunôt) seems like an early version of Sherlock Holmes before Arthur Conan Doyle adapted the idea to London.

Was Mr. Bounderby an influence for the “Four Yorkshiremen” sketch?

Technology has been enabling upgrades to the abilities of my mind; for instance, reading is now more convenient because, wherever I happen to be, the world’s library is immediately accessible from my phone – and has become a healthy, as well as enjoyable, addiction for me.

Earthian: from Earth. Moonian: from Earth’s moon. Martian: from Mars. Solarian: inhabitant of Space City 1.

I stopped using the word “couple” because I’ve had misunderstandings in the past where people thought the word means “several” and not its actual meaning of “two”. “Substituted X for Y” is another one that causes confusion because, using football as the analogy, it tends to be wrongly thought that X is substituted and replaced by Y.

The time for shaking hands is after fearlessly giving complete focus to the performance.

Everything changes. Solid ground evaporates beneath sedentary feet.

To do anything interesting you must disassociate from the current expectations.

Random Thoughts

The UK, USA and Technology have given me every opportunity in life. It is my responsibility – and every decent person’s – to be vigilant to the spoilt, cowardly, self-indulgent behaviour and downright insanity that has corroded humanity’s chance to escape the cruel despotism of the past.

I long for the day when we no longer need to use oil and gas: when we no longer have to send capital to abhorrent regimes that spread misery in the world.

I greatly respect people who are able to do stuff and work hard doing it. I have very little respect for the behaviour of people who copy and repeat banalities.

A massive personal yacht is a crowning example of gross douchebaggery; a total misuse of time and money to massage the ridiculous ego of its owner.

High lawyer fees preserve the interests of big corporates and the very wealthy to bully the less advantaged. It would be a big breakthrough if lawyers could be mostly automated – the law, after all, is by its nature rules-based and should be ripe terrain for AI. Malicious lawsuits could be dismissed quickly and the truly needful would have proper protection and recourse to justice.

Avoid asking leading questions where yes and no answers are sufficient – because a person can get into the habit of nodding and shaking their head without using the stuff inside.

It would be more user-friendly to have premium content – such as films, games, podcasts, and articles – available on grouped subscription packages, like the current comprehensive services for music and books, rather than subscribing to lots of different providers and platforms.

Blinkist is great for providing summaries of the main points in nonfiction books. It’s better to blink it than not read the book at all.

When catching up with my phone, notifications are checked first, then messages, then emails, then widgets.

Journal 2022-11-29

A bed demon under my pillow forces my eyelids open at night so that I can doomscroll on Twitter.

Problem solved? The thing that was bothering you has come and gone like everything else. What’s next on the worry list? Maybe while you’re thinking like this, you could add a few more items – and for every one that goes away you could add three more. Or don’t. Most problems disappear when the thinking about them stops.

What happens when you get everything you think you wanted? Unless you change with the changing circumstance, you will still be in the same mode of lacking, and will still thirst for more.

The universe is both beautiful and horrific. From some higher level, where things don’t matter so much, it might all be viewed as a single magnificently interesting thread of life.

Late last night in the street, a blue illuminated face peered down into the glow and said, “Don’t worry Charlie, whatever’s gonna happen, gonna happen.” Wise words there in the darkness.

Self-discipline is a necessary virtue for any progress. A useful question to ask oneself is: what am I learning?

Live this moment with inner quality.

Being viewed as attractive is attractive. A woman turned on is a turn on.

Random Thoughts

A person usually believes that 100% of everything they think to be true is actually true. Their mind has arrived at a conclusion, so how can their mind think it to be anything else? I think that even the most perspicacious of people have a much lower strike rate than 100%. (Socrates was making a similar point a while ago.)

Well-meaning people sometimes spread specious arguments they think are entirely logical because they have made basic assumptions that lack real understanding.

Most of history anywhere is awful. An awareness of what went wrong is necessary to move forward and build something better.

People who can do stuff tend to like doing stuff.

Churchill’s statue in Parliament Square represents a British defiance of tyranny; of course the tyrannous would target it.

Random Thoughts

What is the meaning of life? … is the 404th most asked question of the Great Oracle’s Database.

Currently at 70,300 words, the novel will probably end up at about 90,000 words. The unknown X to be solved is the number of the final chapter.

I am sceptical of all claims to certainty, although some are more likely to be false than others.

The world was made of wibbly and came from wobbly, thought the jelly.

The weakest form of argument is an appeal to authority, either to that of others or your own.

The Nazis were traitors to Germany, its culture and possibilities, and all of the human race. The people who support the rise of Fascism in current hellscapes like Russia have betrayed their country and common humanity.

In nations of slaves, people are requisitioned by the regime to be discarded as waste.

I like to visit other worlds, either in my sleep or my imaginings.