My Aunt recently passed away. She was my Dad's sister ... and she was a fantastic person. She was loving and kind. She was a natural-born caregiver, And she was as sharp as a tack. What wouldn't we give for another moment with her? My response to her death reminded me of my feelings when my Dad passed away.
This time, the conversation was a little different. People asked me if I thought that A.I. would enable us to live on after our bodies started to give out on us. I recorded some of my thoughts.
I don't think A.I. will give us life after death.
I do believe technology will get good enough to create a replica of you - that talks like you, responds like you, and even comforts people who miss you.
I don't believe technology can capture whatever part of us doesn't live in our bodies. Whether you call it our soul (or something else), I don't think that will ever get uploaded to the matrix, so you live on.
And, I think that's okay. Part of the beauty of existence is the transience, the joy, the suffering, and the range of human experience. That is a big part of what we call life.
When my Dad was dying, every moment took on new meaning. Not only did time seem to slow down, but there was a weight and intimacy that's often taken for granted.
We often think about the U.S. as the "land of the free." That is good marketing ... but is it true? In large part, it depends on the contexts and frameworks you choose to evaluate what constitutes freedom.
For example, Strategic Coach breaks "entrepreneurial freedom" into four categories: time, money, relationships, and purpose.
Meanwhile, if you look at the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, you've got freedom of speech, press, assembly, and the right to petition the government ... and we've since instituted a litany of other freedoms and liberties.
In this post, we will examine the concept of economic freedom. Economic freedom represents more than just freedom to make money, it pertains to the decisions and liberties one has in that pursuit.
According to VisualCapitalist, the ranking uses four broad categories, each with three key indicators to measure economic freedom.
Rule of law: property rights, judicial effectiveness, government integrity
Size of government: tax burdens, fiscal health, government spending
Regulatory efficiency: labor freedom, monetary freedom, business freedom
Open markets: financial freedom, trade freedom, investment freedom
The 12 indicators are weighted equally and scored from 0-100. The overall score is the average score among those indicators.
Based on these metrics, the U.S. doesn't even enter the top 10.
Surprisingly, the U.S. ranks 25th overall - and only 3rd in the Americas.
Now, freedom means a lot of different things, and economic freedom is only one of many modalities ... but it's an important factor.
If you were in control, what change would you make to increase the United States' economic freedom? If you're not from the U.S., where does your country rank, and why?
In today’s “Truth is Stranger than Fiction” episode, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg seem to be discussing a "cage match." But, for those of us who have been around awhile, we remember the first real billionaire fight when Herb Kelleher, co-founder of Southwest Airlines, settled a business dispute with a rival by arm wrestling in front of an audience at an arena, in an event dubbed “Malice in Dallas.”
This supposed cage fight started because Elon responded to someone on Twitter saying, “I’m up for a cage match if he is lol” to which Zuckerberg posted an Instagram story saying, “Send Me Location.”
Now, their beef isn’t new. Back in 2016, Musk’s SpaceX was contracted to shuttle a satellite into orbit for Facebook. During a routine test, an explosion on the ground caused the satellite to be destroyed, and Zuck to say, “I’m deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX’s launch failure destroyed our satellite that would have provided connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent.”
Ever since, they’ve been going at it. They take different stances on AI. They’ve gotten off each other’s platforms, etc.
This year, Father's Day was smaller than usual. My wife, Jennifer, is in Indonesia, and my older son is on the west coast.
Meanwhile, my younger son, Zach, took me to one of our favorite Asian restaurants with his new Fiancée, Sloane.
I've been calling her my daughter-in-law since he brought her home (because some things are inevitable and easy to recognize).
Reflecting on the past year, I'm grateful for my granddaughter (from my married son, Ben, and his wife). And, I'm also grateful that Zach and Sloane got engaged and started to plan the rest of their lives together (and hopefully more grandchildren for me).
As a father, having great kids is a double blessing. On one hand, it's nice to be proud of who your kids are and the things they do. On the other hand, it's also nice to feel proud of the small part you played in helping them become who they are.
Of course, I also look back ... and spent some time thinking about my father and his terrific influence on so many lives.
My Dad believed in setting high standards. He explained that most people's lives are defined by their minimum standards. Why? Because once those standards are met, it is easy to get distracted by other things (and figuring out how to meet the minimum standards for them as well).
He was also my best friend.
I see so much of him in myself, and in my children, and many of the aphorisms I teach come from him. I'm grateful that I can still see his impact on the world.
There is nothing wrong with your television. We will control all that you see and hear. We can deluge you with a thousand channels or expand one single image to crystal clarity and beyond. We can shape your vision to anything our imagination can conceive. Enjoy ....
There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image; make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to the outer limits.
We believe what we want to believe, so it can be very hard to change a belief, even in the face of contrary evidence.
Since the past election cycle, we've seen a massive uptick in distrust toward news agencies, big companies, the government, and basically anyone with a particularly large reach.
To a certain degree, this is understandable and justified. Here is an example of the power of the media focused on a message. Click to watch.
Propaganda has always been an issue, and almost everyone does it; governments, companies, etc. Luckily, it's easier to see today than in the past, but unluckily it's also more pervasive and insidious than before.
It's to the point where if you watch the news you're misinformed, and if you don't watch the news you're uninformed.
The above segment portrays a rosy picture of Amazon's efforts to protect its workers while delivering essentials to the struggling homebound masses. This comes while Amazon has come under massive fire for removing some of its protections.
Honestly, I use Amazon and, in my opinion, this isn't a massive breach of trust. News stations have a lot of time to fill, they often have sponsored content.
That being said, it's something to be cognizant of - not necessarily offended by.
Personally, I believe I am reasonably aware and somewhat immune from propaganda. That probably isn't as true as I'd like to believe.
It used to be true that winners wrote history (think empires, wars, etc.). Now, the one that delivers the most broadcast narratives shapes the emotional and seemingly logical responses to what we perceive to be happening around us.
The result impacts elections, financial markets, buying choices, and countless other areas of our life.
It's a great reminder that what you're seeing and hearing is carefully manufactured, and hopefully, it encourages you to get outside your bubble.
I think one of the worst consequences of the past few years is the unwillingness of mass swaths of Americans to listen to voices they disagree with. The internet has already created echo chambers, but it's being exacerbated by vitriol. As a result, I think we're seeing the fringe of both parties move further away from the middle.
It's unsurprising that Google and social media top the list, but it is interesting to see OpenAI becoming the 17th most visited site last month - with 1.8 billion visits - despite being very new to the scene in comparison to its competitors.
Easy to forget, but also unsurprising is the prevalence of adult websites on this list. One of my most popular articles ever was titled "How Long Does It Take To Get To 50 Million Users?" in it, the takeaway was that Pornhub did it 19 days - faster than anyone else ... up until ChatGPT. Part of the popularity of that article is because Pornhub has very in-depth statistics about its yearly use.
Many of our best decisions, timeliest course corrections, or most significant innovations occur after a seemingly disastrous occurrence. That's why many psychologists and self-help gurus encourage people to focus on the hidden gift that many of these experiences provide.
It's there if you look for it. That painful event becomes the catalyst for either something new, a better way, or a level-up.
Of course, that's not the case for everyone or every event ... It takes the right mindset and the right actions to turn a trial into a triumph.
As we come out of a massive world transformation, and into a new one with the surge in A.I., I think back to 2008 and how a prior incarnation of algorithms fared against it (spoiler alert: not nearly as well as this time). They say the things that don't kill you make you stronger. Here's my trial into triumph story about that.
Too many people become a victim of their circumstances instead of choosing to be the master of their destinies.
Life's harder for people that live a life of least resistance. Doing the hard things, and making the most of bad times, makes your life not only better ... but, ultimately, easier.
Tony Robbins calls this Threshold of Control. If you push through the fear and the struggle ... as you persevere, eventually, what was scary becomes easy. You've increased your threshold, and that's often a permanent improvement.
Examining several instances from my past, here is a list of the seven steps I use to transform almost any situation.
Seven Best Practices for Uncertain Times.
Accept Reality: We are where we are. Focus on being complete with what happened before this – and think about this as a new beginning with an even bigger future.
Do Something Positive: Take action and build momentum and confidence. Big wins are great. Yet, in scary times, even small items are worth noting, building upon, and stacking. Let progress build positive momentum for you.
Take Care of Yourself: Increase your physical activity, meditation, and massage. Take time to eat and sleep well. Many studies show decision-making suffers when you're stressed. Taking care of yourself goes a long way to making many other things better.
Communicate More: The natural tendency is to hide or to recuperate in private. Instead, be open and receptive to help and ideas from friends, partners, or wherever it may come.
Creative Destruction: The old game and the old ways of thinking are over. Shift your energy to what is working. Commit to the result you want rather than the process.
Increase Your Options: It often takes a different level of thinking to solve a problem than the level of thinking that got you there in the first place. So, be open to new opportunities, new possibilities, and more ways to win.
Choose a Bigger Future: Instead of resigning yourself to playing small and doing with less, recognize that a clearing creates space for something even better. Choose what you want and call it into existence through your thoughts and actions.
They say everything happens for a reason. The secret is that you get to choose the reason, what it means to you, and what you're going to do about it. Choose well, and someday you could look back on this time as one of the best things that ever happened to you.
Pornhub via 
Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - July 9th, 2023
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.
Lighter Links:
Trading Links:
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