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Sam Altmans outrageous 7 Trillion AI Bet: For what?!? From who?
On Feb 8, 2024 the Wall Street Journal broke the news that our favorite AI wunderkind, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, was making the global rounds again (primarily to China and Arab States this time… interesting), this time trying to raise an alleged $7 trillion. (that’s 7,000 billion, or seven million million dollars!) So what in…
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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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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…
