Categories
Life

Casting a Beautiful Net

Many moons ago I watched a television series called “The OA”. Without ruining it any more than I might (it’s a wonderful series, and you should definitely binge-watch it if you have not), I’m going to share a quote from it:

the biggest mistake I made was believing that if I cast a beautiful net, I’d catch only beautiful things.

Prairie Johnson

I often feel the same way about the internet – about putting my thoughts “out there” for anybody to find.

There’s always a fear of sharing – particularly sharing the truth – that it will be accepted without prejudice or malice. It seems somewhat counter-intuitive – sharing fear, trepidation, and uncertainty. Something tells me however that the more truthful a story, the more relateable and engaging it becomes – and the more sympathetic the audience.

Perhaps optimism is the key?

I’ve always been an optimist of sorts – preferring to look forwards rather than back. Where some might endlessly pick apart what might have been, I’m more about where we are, and where we might go next. Perhaps it’s an avoidance tactic?

I’m an amazing procrastinator. I’ve never connected it before. Procrastination is just avoidance in a different suit of clothes.

Anyway.

As you might have guessed, I’m procrastinating my way through lunchtime writing this. Avoiding responsibilities, and the world at large. Sometimes the world get a bit too big. In here I can make it small.

Categories
Life

Trust and Truth

It turns out people have been both uploading photos they do not own to creative commons photo sharing sites such as Pexels and Unsplash, and removing photos from such sites before pursuing those using them and demanding royalties.

The obvious solution is to avoid using stock photos.

While it’s going to take some time to walk backwards through blog posts swapping the photos out, it’s better than the prospect of dealing with the photographic equivalent of a patent troll.

People ruin everything, don’t they.

In other news, I’m still watching the news – or rather, watching a number of news streams and trying to balance the various versions of stories being reported. It’s incredibly frustrating that journalists are paid to write with bias, and will often distort, fabricate and manufacture “truth” to suit their own narrative.

Don’t even get me started about social media – where you can trust very little at all. I found myself wondering this morning if the world might not be a much better place if artificial intelligence was brought to bear on the content people share – to check the veracity of claims and score them accordingly.

How would an artificial intelligence determine truth though? We live in a world where millions of people disagree entirely about the most basic tenets that society rests upon – a world where the vast majority accept the concordant news stream generated by algorithmic timelines as truth and fact.

Categories
Life

Inspirational

This year I’m taking part in “Bloganuary” – a series of writing prompts published throughout the month by Mindy Postoff. Today’s writing prompt is “Who is someone that inspires you and why?”.


I’m going to answer today’s writing prompt somewhat indirectly.

I tend not to hero worship, or put anybody on pedestals, so naming an individual as an inspiration seems false. As the social internet has amplified celebrity, and more notable influencers have leaned into audience manipulation, reinvention of self, and the curation of alternate realities, I have become increasingly disillusioned by anybody that projects an ideal, an image, or a way of life.

In recent months I have begun searching the internet for honesty and transparency – searching for people telling their own story – their adventures, ideas, thoughts, hopes and dreams. Quiet voices of truth.

While it’s easy to be drowned out by armies of keyboard warriors fighting perceived injustices, or furthering ill-conceived idealistic crusades, some people continue placing one foot in front of the other, and find their own way through the mayhem – continuing to tell their own story.

Those are the people that inspire me.