Shmintelligence – Opinions on AI

A friend of mine seems to use ChatGPT to write every message he sends out. It’s still pretty easy to spot when he has used it, and it still leaves a strange taste in my mouth. Why is a robot texting me in his place?

That strange taste is the overarching effect of AI on myself, and I don’t think anybody knows quite what to do with the feeling left over after interacting with a bot where we used to interact with a human. Especially when we know the bots are not 100% trustworthy. Not even close.

Strange feelings aside, it’s clear that AI is not going away, and the interactions with robots will accelerate because convenience overrides quality. Just like streaming overtook the CDs and LPs of the world, and we were forced to choose Spotify or A.N. Other – The net result is that I need to choose an AI platform. I need my own opinions on various options I have used, and below is the lay of the land as I see it:

ChatGPT – All powerful and popular, but not appealing because of the origin stories and the boardroom dramas, and because of all the lawsuits. Elon Musk teamed up with Sam Altman and that resulted in a greedy scraping Robot, and I just don’t want to use it. It just hit a billion dollars revenue a month but it is burning as much in energy and costs. Extraordinary.
Grok – seemingly more extreme and outlandish in its utterances, and more links with Elon with all his lawsuits and wildness. Not an X user. Not particularly interested.
Claude – appealing for its supposed focus on safety and transparency. I like the free version as much as I like any talking robot prompt, but commitment is expensive at USD 17 a month.
Gemini – already part of my Google One account subscription and works much the same way as the others for me. Appealing for me as I think Google’s lead in search and deep history in creating AI will give it advantages long into the future. I am going to choose this one not because of any difference in quality that I have had with interactions, but because of the bundle.

My point about bundles above suggests to me that the tech is a commodity already. Sure, there are benchmarks to measure performance, but do we really see those differences in our daily use? I certainly can’t tell. But hey what do I know? I still write my own blog posts. It feels good to have come up with an opinion on the tools I have used so far, even if they have been foisted upon me without much of a say on my part. What a strange world it is.

Happy Thursday Chimps.

Finishing

I am excited by new things and new projects. I think our popular culture encourages the new, the clean, and the shiny. This is particularly true of the tech industry, as well as fashion and media – but it also applies to any new endeavour.

I have started this blog up about a million times. I have started writing a book. I have started a podcast and a career in consulting. I have started all sorts of things. But once I start something, 2 questions quickly pop up:

how do I want to keep them going? and,
how do I want to finish them all?

Keeping them going is very tricky and smells something like hard work. There is always resistance to keeping something going. Always a need to be whipped or carroted into it. Formulating your own practice and habit and process is likely the answer. But this is easier said than done.

A less frequently discussed problem is that of finishing something well. We don’t learn often about how to best finish things off, how to put something to rest, or how to sell out or walk away for good. How to let something die.

I have finished a few relationships, a few jobs and a few sports careers successfully in my life to date. But for the really important stuff, entropy requires us to prepare for potential disorder and chaos. In practice this probably looks like a clear plan to move past the practice/habit stage and to enter the “finishing” stage. A plan with fallbacks and contingencies along the way. My finishes have been more ad hoc and improvised to date. I’d like to change that, though.

Advertising

There are a few ways that adverts appear in my life in 2025:

Podcasts – sponsored shows will throw up a mix of local (South African banks, mainly) and international companies – anything from nutrition to software to, again, banks – all from USA which is hard to relate to.
Billboards. Traffic is still an opportunity for advertisers. I can tell you about the ¨Wealth Managers” and the Insurance companies.
TV – I know who sponsors the sports teams i support. Live sport is still a huge opportunity, clearly – but the normal TV shows are not as effective. I used to have to sit through long chunks of ads in order to watch the best TV shows. No longer – although this is changing fast, moving back to the way it was with advert subsidised subscriptions appearing from Netflix etc.
Kindle – the Home screen features adverts for books and kindleunlimited subscriptions which i see all the time.
Gmail – the promotions tab is flat out trying to show me stuff. I am flat out trying to unsubscribe from all the stuff.

I am not on TikTok or any other social media anymore. I don´t watch Youtube either. I am something of a luddite these days but there are still avenues to reach me as an advertiser.

Happy Monday, chimps.

Stalked by Neil Young

At some stage I liked too many Neil Young songs on Apple Music. Each week my phone offers me playlists full of songs it thinks I would like to hear. Without fail, each and every week it puts multiple Neil Young songs in each playlist. No matter how many times I tell it to ´undo favourite´ for the artist and all his songs, his high-pitched and (let´s face it) kind of annoying voice keeps popping up.

I love Harvest and After the Gold Rush. Solid albums. But that´s about it. I can´t take this much Neil on a weekly basis.

Happy Tuesday Chimps.

Neo-Romanticism and technology

I recently read an article on the new wave of romanticism that is gathering pace as we realize the full extent of the reach of technology. Like a witch’s twisted and mangled claw, we are feeling the way in which algorithms are controlling and squeezing us. We are wishing for something else while at the same time being under a spell and attached. We have had too much of a good thing.

So what is the fuss all about? What repulses us after this 20 year experiment living online? It is about truth and finding common ground. It is about humanity and truth. It is the sense that we have been deceived and something important has been taken away from us.

Contrast what is happening now with the Socratic dialogue that allows Plato to wrestle with the truth. Long, winding discussion, back and forth in order to reach the truth of a matter. Instead of a surefire way to find honesty and sincerity, tech gives us instant knowledge. No more long slog of dialogue. Shortcuts to algorithmic certainty are now presented to us in a trashy, convincing way by our screens. Intellectual humility has been replaced with algorithmic hubris. We, as humans, have clear limitations, and that is what makes life so ridiculously interesting. AI and tech give us the impression of total knowledge, of a world only made of data and devoid of Logos and mystery.

Neo-Romanticism could perhaps use Platonic dialogue as a model for reclaiming human connection, for returning to human values in the face of technological de-humanisation. Ancient ideas are still relevant. If you want proof, give your mum or dad a call.

Happy Wednesday, Chimps.

The channels of the knowledge

Cape Town in February can be stifling. Now we have tipped into March and today there is a welcome drizzle to cool us all down. I chose today to wash my car which i saw as some sort of celebration of the falling rain. I don´t know why so don´t ask 🙂

While I waited for the car to be washed, I put on my headphones. Podcasts, music and news all set to feed into my ears at 1.75 times the normal speed. It struck me how different this is from two other channels of knowledge – reading or a discussion. Is it better to read, to listen or to talk in dialogue?

Reading for me is a battle. I am torn between Kindles, books, classics, modern trash, websites, magazines, social media. It all scraps for my attention.

Perhaps the first two channels (reading and listening) are necessary foundations to really engage in the third channel (dialogue) in any meaningful way. Famously Plato used the Socratic method where ideas are shaped through dialogue. The questions and interactions were supposed to uncover knowledge. My children are taught how to listen and how to read at school, but I am not certain they are taught what a meaningful dialogue looks like, nor are they taught what the preconditions are for dialogue to occur.

Socratic dialogue is not something that is easy or convenient to create in the busy-ness of everyday life. My wife is not interested in longform investigations into abstract ideas. But, listening to a podcast might be the best option to incorporate dialogue into your life – to hear it done well by others. Of course it depends on the podcast you choose, but I believe this is one of the biggest strengths of the format – it allows for longform, uncensored dialogue to occur.

Happy Tuesday, Chimps.

Looking back at a quarter-life crisis

Where were you when you had your quarter life crisis? Picture me, a junior research analyst in a panic and working on the weekend. Downtown Sydney, Australia – A huge office building is deserted on a Saturday, floor upon floor of all things “Corporate” but no people around – empty meeting rooms, desks, chairs, and computers. If I had cared to look out the window of the 20th floor, I would have seen glorious Sydney harbor glinting in the sun with boats coming and going. Inside the office was devoid of human life except for me. For company I had the hum of the air conditioning and Bloomberg screens offering market news. Too worried to bother about the view, I was staring at a single spreadsheet in horror. This is when I realised exactly how bad I was at my job. How could I get this far, I wondered, and have so little idea about what I am doing? I had a Masters degree, I had vast experience living on three continents, I had worked in “Big 4” consulting firms – and here i was absolutely baffled by the task at hand.

The problem was that I had no precedent. I liked to pretend that I had achievements, but school and university were simply too easy, and so was my childhood. I had been lucky for 27 years, living with a nihilistic attitude, doing the bare minimum to get by as a straight B student, and now I was being found out. Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Amy Winehouse, Brian Jones, Kurt Cobain. Was I next on the list? Hardly. But since those Sydney days (15 years later) I have come to appreciate people who are conscientious – doing things (anything, really) as if their life depended on it. The religious mantra of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you – even in a work environment. These people are impressive. But still I battle to be one of these people. My nihilistic roots run deep. If I don´t do it, someone else will – or so my logic goes when I am at my worst.

Part of this is innate, of course. We each have our own psychological makeup and we have to work with what we are given. I have a creative streak which makes me more prone to openness, and less prone to conscientiousness. In practice this means I would rather have a long, deep chat about a problem than to fix the problem immediately.

The other part of this is learnt. Habits can change you and reinforce themselves over time. This can be bad for conscientiousness (as with my first 28 years of life) or the flywheel can work in your favour if you manage to get into a groove of working hard, especially if you are working on a subject that is engaging.

This subject fascinates me. Wishing you all luck in dealing with the quarter life crisis.

Splitting it up

Throughout the lifespan of this blog, I’ve grappled with two fundamental questions: Who am I writing for, and what purpose does this serve?

In my more idealistic moments, I envisioned cultivating a vast audience—a tribe of like-minded individuals who would find exactly what they needed in my words. The pandemic brought clarity: this blog isn’t about changing the world; it’s a personal sanctuary for exploring creativity and collecting thoughts.

This site has evolved into a mirror for self-reflection, a canvas for ideas that emerge despite sleep deprivation (thanks kids). It’s my digital journal to accompany my steady retreat from social media, and I’ve come to embrace that reality. Post-pandemic, As my focus shifts, I’m branching out. While this blog will remain a creative outlet, I’m launching a Substack (@rossandrews) dedicated to my professional aspirations in ESG analysis.”

Whether you choose to follow my professional journey or simply enjoy the musings here, I wish you clarity and purpose.

100 Poets

How many poems have you read in your life? If you’re like me, the number is fewer than you’d like. The mental effort required to open a book of poetry with no guidance or context is significant. Enter “100 Poets” by John Carey.

This anthology lets you skim over famous poets and absorb some of their best work, providing context and knowledge at the same time. It still requires effort to dive in, but it’s a much friendlier approach than a cold, hard book of poetry with nobody to introduce you or explain what’s going on.

I started sending portions of the book to my family via voice messages. I would read out sections with poetry as a way of forcing myself to read and engage. Then I stopped for a while, but I plan to pick it back up because it was such a great way to engage with poetry – out loud.

Obviously, I would prefer to be a literature student again and dive into the words for hours on end. But I don’t have hours on end, I have minutes on end, so this book is the next best thing.

Holiday combinations

I’m on holiday with my family and the in laws. A few nights in, and it’s proving to be one of those classic holidays….you know the ones….all the relaxation, sun, fun and joy that you could hope for. In my mind’s eye, everything here is tinted with a golden glow. Without wanting to jinx it – here are a few thoughts on why our holiday rocks the way it does….which is mightily….like a sweet Led Zeppelin track, with a glass of wine, at sunset, by the sea:

The weather – Even though it’s the start of autumn, we have been lucky with the sun – which means we have been able to take the little ones outdoors every day. A kid outside is a different beast to a cooped up, tv-addicted, frustrated indoors monkey. Bike rides, hikes, beaches = Happy tired monkeys.
The house – Some houses just have a good energy. I’m no mystic shayman (ha!), but the forces of good design and feng shue are strong in this place. Out of the wind, in the sunshine. Cool, comfortable spaces for all 8 of us. Energy flows through the right doors and cozy furniture to chill, eat, sleep and work in.
The children – every now and then our children hit a vein of form which will melt your heart. The way they have played together, looked after each other, and grabbed the bull by the horns this holiday makes me so very happy. Fingers crossed for more bull grabbing.

These holiday combinations matter – if you mess with any of the three elements listed above, it will change the vibe completely. Also, because we all age the combinations necessarily are never the same, year on year.

All this is to say i am celebrating and enjoying a successful holiday break when it hits me in the chops.