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The AI Tsunami – the Metaphor Explained
In September of 2022, two months prior to the launch of ChatGPT, my son clued me into the groundbreaking art being produced by MidJourney, DALL-E, and StableDiffusion. Though I’d been working at the leading edge of AI for decades, I was nonetheless shocked. This advancement — generative AI, or genAI — tipped the scales. In…
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Why do we Climb Mountains? Part 2
This is my attempt to articulate my personal reasons that answer the question: “Why do we climb mountains?” I forewarn you: I am a total master of rationalization — finding possibly logical (and sometimes magical) reasons to develop passionate motivation to do the things that I really want to do, but that might be seen…
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The Myth of Gear: Its not the Weapon, its the Warrior
a meditation on the Myth of Gear in modern climbing culture: over-reliance on equipment (especially by novice climbers) in the twin worlds of mountaineering & rock-climbing. You might have heard of the debate on big mountains about “expedition-style” vs. “alpine-style” ascents. In short, the first is how they did it in the olden days —…
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Why do We Risk Our Lives to Climb Mountains?
My recent adventures on the slopes of Mount Whitney (see 1 the initial summit & 2 the redemption mission), and the dancing with death that were a result of both, has me deeply thinking about the why of mountaineering. And not just for me — for Alex Honnold, for Scott Fischer — for anyone who chooses…
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Redemption: Whitney Gear Retrieval Mission : Doing it Right
I returned home from my Whitney Adventure in a state of almost total and complete shock. I had lost five pounds in 48 hours; I’d also lost my phone, and abandoned all my gear — my entire base camp setup — at 11,000 feet. I knew I had to get back — and soon —…
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Mount Whitney Mountaineers Route is Very Real. Adventure. (Winter 2024)
“There’s a razors edge . . . . between genius and madness. That’s a sharp, . . . . hard edge to ride.” — Barry Blanchard — top high-risk Alpinist This is a story about one human summiting and descending one mountain. In this case, the human is me. I am an acrobat, athlete, amateur…
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Rock Climbing 101: Key Findings from Joshua Tree 2024
I recently did a tech-free (well, aside from my camera) adventure in the blissful playground of Joshua Tree National Park. Casually led by 2 seasoned climber friends, we explored a number of rock climbing routes inside the park. I learned a few things. Read as both literal and metaphor. 1. Going Down is 3x harder…
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AI Trends 2024 : Gregory’s Annual Crystal Ball AI Predictions
Well, its January again. 2023 was a banner year — perhaps the year — that will be remembered as the first time that actual human-level AI was released “into the wild” and got onto the radar of the vox populi. Now that our AI timeline is completely wrecked, its time to take stock, and predict what…
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Roberts Five Laws of Robotics 2024
If you haven’t seen the writing on the wall — like this shiny Optimus robot model that is showing up in Tesla showrooms around the world — AI-driven humanoid robots are coming. And they’re going to need some prime directives. In tribute to Asimov, lets call them the Five Laws of Robotics. Musk states that…
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The Astonishing Age of Abundance : Quantum Compute, Fusion Energy, and UBI 2035
Welcome to 2024, Humans. The aim of this post is to set the stage for Human + AI + UBI optimism going into the new year. There may indeed be an AI Tsunami that radically shakes up human culture, politics, and economies… but that event (theoretically) ushers in the coming Age of Abundance. Whether this…
