jsnhrtly-blog

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AI

I feel like humanity needs to over-develop VR prior to any further development on AI so that we can create simulations real enough to house AI research as a test environment. Then if AI gets wildly out of control it is contained within the simulation and you just destroy the simulated environment without the risk of a human extinction event. Or is that what is already happening and we already exist in that simulated test environment researching AI lol...?

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I’m moving to Seattle. It’s an admittedly absurd proclamation at this point, but you’ll have to deal with it. The most taxing/enervating/devitalizing aspect of frequent relocation is that your potential alternate universes become fiercely pronounced and you must live with the decisions to fork your world into uniquely untrodden vectors, rendering previously resolute lives ersatz or pseudo-annulled. Putting friends in juxtaposition with compensation values is a nauseating exercise, please know that. I’ve probably only cried 3 or 4 times in the last decade; one of them was at the airport leaving SF and there seem to be tears in this wine carafe here in Austin. Come visit me in the rain, you fuckers.

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Las Vegas

Mass shootings in America exist within this strange gap in humanity where we don't deliberately allow them to happen but we also do almost nothing to prevent them. Shootings simply continue to happen in an arbitrary city, on an arbitrary day for an arbitrary reason and will continue to repeat arbitrarily, but at an exponential rate, until we care enough to execute an explicit and deliberate solution to the problem -- solutions exist and are not difficult to enact. Until then, we collectively as Americans do not care about the victims of mass shootings enough to fill the gap and our humanity falls short -- outcomes dictate this reality. We are all "thoughts and prayers" and no action, we are all talk.

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Something I wrote at 25

When I go back and read some of the crap I wrote back when I had energy and ambition, back when I was as idealistic as they come, it's not the writing that I hate — because, frankly, it's some of the best I've done — no, it's in the consciousness that it brings; it's in how it clears the air to reveal just how miserably I have failed. What I hate is myself. But time will do that: it eats away at the greatness of men. Society takes hold. It's a slow, gradual attrition crumbling your values, your will, soaking into your pores until a reminder, a reflection, hauls off and hits you in the mouth. Those dilating, jaw-rocking "ah-has" are the only remaining embers of what was once a raging flame and you can't let them go out, not at 25. The sparks are a more ambitious definition of life.

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Memory

It's strange, my memory seems to be getting worse — as if I were an old man or something. But I sort of think memory gets a bum rap; perhaps memory remains unchanged, always in the same capacity, and merely seems worse as our lives become less and less memorable. Maybe memory just has less work to do? We remember less because there is less worth remembering... You never can tell though, can you?

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I feel like people in 20 years will look back at this time the same way that we look back at things like using lead-based paint or asbestos. Some day the things we are doing right now will be unanimously viewed as absurdly and unnecessarily idiotic -- but, unfortunately, we aren't there yet.

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Election Postmortem

Postmortem: this is a new era of abject institutional failure, class warfare, racism, sexism, climate change and economic meltdown. Emotions like joy, hope and love are diminishing in correlation to the rise of anger, hate, and cynicism. There is a constant tension in the air, it's palpable in even the smallest of interactions. Leadership is extinct and all we can do is dig for fossils of guidance from those before us — and the nostalgia only creates stagnation.

But it's okay to feel scared, to hurt and to grieve right now. The fear you are feeling is an opportunity for courage. Do not run from it — just be there. If you want a better, more conducive world, YOU have to build it. And it's done with every interaction, transaction, reaction... ACTION that you make — everything matters, everything has an impact. Civilization is not a noun, it's a verb made up of trillions of micro-verbs.

We have to work harder than we ever thought we would. Strain your muscles, callous your hands, blister your feet, sweat and bleed. And you have to sometimes do it apropos of nothing, not always understanding where you're going. We've let intelligence harden us, so be actively kind, compassionate and benevolent. Be more than just conscious of others, practice empathy and humility. In the long run, cruelty will never lead to a greater prosperity. Start building something with endurance, something better.

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Taking the day off seems like a rather strange way of honoring the working people, so I'm heading to the office. You won't find an easier opportunity to earn a leg up than working on a Holiday because your competition won't be.

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Existential Dyslexia

This life, it's about love, I'd say. Everything else is just a filler. Yeah, love is the meat; love is the conclusion to this argument. So the vision is intact — most people see it —but some how the message: l-o-v-e gets twisted and tangled until it's spelled m-o-n-e-y or p-o-w-e-r. It's like some kind of sick anagram. So this might be the beer (or maybe the approaching 4am) talking, but what's with our existential dyslexia?

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Eat at Arby’s by Jason Hartley

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Art and Words by Jason Hartley

http://jasonhartleyart.com/

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I feel like we are in an era where everyone is so focused on making sure the perception of their work is positive that they forget to focus on making great work to begin with. The mindset is: 'How can I get more likes or views or clicks?' instead of 'how can I make something more meaningful or cool or profound -- which will translate into likes or views or clicks later?' This difference seems more and more subtle lately but has enormous repercussions in terms of being honest, authentic and true to yourself. The more you cater to an audience, the less progress you will make toward creating work that will impact people in any meaningful way. You will never push the limits of what is possible in your medium if you are searching for surefire avenues for likes, views and clicks -- and long-term you will end up with less likes, views and clicks than if you had shot for meaning and value to begin with. We are obsessed with these instant feedback machines and it is cheapening us.

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On the floor staring at a sunbleached smoke detector, sleep marks on my back from a deflated sheet of petroleum, missing Alaska, missing Colorado, missing the frontier, missing out.

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I Got Robbed in San Francisco

The first day that I moved to San Francisco I was robbed and had literally everything that I own stolen -- like everything, I've been wearing the same pants for the last two weeks. But once you get past the initial "holy fuck" response, it's strangely refreshing to have absolutely zero material possessions. I find myself focusing on relationships and creative ideas much more than normal and I've been privileged to experience just how genuinely generous people can be. Huge thanks to my family, friends and co-workers for being such a bunch of radasses!!!

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Guns Attract Dumb People

Think about how primitive, unsophisticated and antediluvian it is to be obsessed with guns at this point in history.  People are fascinated by them because they create little explosions that can destroy stuff.  To be that compelled by a gun is a fucking caveman-level mentality.  Jesus Christ, you guys, evolve into a species of people who can think beyond "cool that was loud."  Use that focus on something legitimately progressive and interesting. 

The aspect of the gun control conversation that is frustrating is that Americans legitimately think the problem is so complex that there are no clear solutions. So many nations have already implemented successful solutions to curb gun violence: Canada, Australia, the UK, the rest of the advanced world... America's real problem is a deficit in leadership.

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Every one of these shootings feels like it's the last straw, the one that broke the camel's back, but then a couple of days go by and the outrage fades and no one cares.  Some day one of the victims will be someone who matters to you — on this tragic trajectory, it's just a matter of time.

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The intrigue of Donald Trump is that if you elect a crazy billionaire to be POTUS you could potentially get crazy billionaire projects like putting a man on Mars or building a hotel in space or incredible AI robots or a skyscraper double the height of anything already standing... et cetera, et cetera. He is an absolute piece of shit human being, but he is without question the most interesting candidate I've ever seen. That is obviously best case scenario. Worst case might be that he stokes a racist, sexist fire and forces America to endure major social, cultural and economic setbacks that ignite world wars. :(