I thought I’d start the year with a different kind of post.
If I wait for the energy to write a long-form post now, it might never happen…
There’s something special for me about the number 5. It’s the number of the building I grew up in, it was the number of the building my husband lived in in Amsterdam, and it’s the number of the building I live in now.
It’s also a nice little list number for things I’m doing/I’ve done that sits between 3 (never enough items) and 10 (I struggle to find that many interesting things to report back!).
Here’s what I’ve been up to over the last few weeks - let’s start with a nice and frothy one:
1) I’ve joined a choir!
I love singing. I took one-one classes every other week for a couple of decades up until a year ago. As well as blasting out some high notes (some in tune, some not so much) and leaving the session walking on air, I learned to sing and appreciate Mozart. And on the days when we managed to sing both Sondheim and Mozart, well, that was absolute heaven (where they may both rest in peace).
So now that my schedule is my own, I’ve signed up to a choir class: 2 hours of singing but no commitment to perform. It’s fantastic. I’ll report more as (merrily) we go along.
2) The gen-AI ethical dilemma
Over the last few weeks, I read “Code Dependent: How AI Is Changing Our Lives” by Madhumita Murgia and “Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI” by Ethan Mollick. I will share more about these, but reading the first book confirmed what I’ve been fearing all along: that using the new generative AI tools is giving way too much power to the dominant companies behind them, that it’s become an ethical dilemma to use them. Ethical, and counterproductive if I think about how this power can eventually affect me and my bubble, let alone others who live completely different lives.
I have notes on this for an upcoming blog post, but in essence, while I will still use these services myself, I might not encourage others so much… the joy I get from using genAI for writing is what’s led me to call myself a writer now (and I wouldn’t be working on the two books I’m writing right now without it), but the fact that more people and governments are becoming reliant on a handful of companies does not sit well with me. (I was mildly pleased by Starmer declaring a few days ago that he wanted the UK to become a leader in AI, and know that the EU are also taking action, but we’re years away from a level-playing field emerging…)
3) When bots are better than humans
I’ve just finished writing the first draft of the last chapter of the book I’m co-writing on Connection and Disconnection in Remote Teams. (Interested? Sign up here.)
Half of the chapter is devoted to genAI chatbots. One of the things that struck me as I wrote it was the risk of some individuals (whether remote or not) fulfiling their relational needs at work through a chatbot. Applications like ChatGPT and Claude (especially Claude) make you feel like you’re being listened to. Sometimes they misinterpret what you say, and in all honesty, sometimes they’re useless, but they’re always there for you and talk to you in a helpful tone, and respond after “listening” and trying to understand what you’re saying.
For me, the danger is that for some individuals, this is a much better experience than they get at work - where they don’t feel listened to and there is no time for decent conversations… (There’s a lot to explore here, I’m sure I’ll come back to this soon.)
4) Doubling-down on Memoir
Given all the above, what kind of writer do I want to be? Given the creative power of these tools, If I want to make any kind of income from my writing, what kind of writing will keep me going and attract some kind of audience?
Being on the other side of 50 means I have lots of life experience. And the way in which my interests have led me all over the place, why not take advantage of that? So, I’ll bear that in mind when I do the final edit of that Shakespeare-remote book, as well as my friend Pinar’s comment that she mostly enjoyed the personal anecdotes when she read my draft.
And I’ve started the “dumping draft” for the follow up to the A to Z of Spanish Culture…
Sharing my thoughts and life-story is something I enjoy (hello blogger/podcaster!), so why not share more of what no-one else can offer?
5) Seeing life through a new lens
Well, more than seeing life, seeing my surroundings through a new lens, but that didn’t make a good subtitle.
My husband has recently embraced a new identity as a Street Photographer and through his work, I’ve started looking at the physical world differently and taken some shots myself. I might be sharing more of that here too, but for now, I’ll leave you with the kind of photo I’ve been taking for years, due to my obsession with sunsets (also with sunrises, but I tend to catch less of those!).
That’s all for today. I’ll be back with more lists, but also with more long-form thoughts.
As always, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to send through any comments, questions or quotes - or comment on the post below.