It is time to address a supersized flying pink elephant in the room…
If you’re not already embracing AI (such as ChatGPT) or about to soon, you’re going to be the equivalent of a grandpa/grandma who’s never been on the internet.
No doubt, alot of y’all here probably already have. Just as being early to the realm of crypto & blockchain posed some serious opportunities, so too does AI - and it wouldn’t be surprising if many in the community have at least already begun to dip their toes in. And for the few who have not yet that end up reading this, may this be a gentle (bordering on assertive) nudge & clarion call. I don’t often give recommendations or advice, but would highly recommend/advise: get on it.
It’s been fascinating to observe ChatGPT rise in ‘popularity,’ its own wave and portal - no less potent than those that first appeared with the emergence of the internet and Google. Indeed, it’s been a polarizing topic, with many embodying the type of fear of (technological) evolution Timothy Leary expressed is hardwired into the neurology of some people - projecting all sorts of assumptions, preconceptions, fears, and doomsday narratives. But, it’s been even more fascinating getting my own feet wet over the last year, progressively seeing experientially why it’s such a big deal. No doubt, I’ve barely even scratched the surface of what’s capable; yet, whether through my own explorations with ChatGPT or observing others, thing thing never ceases to amaze.
It took me a while to get into it. Such that I almost felt I was missing the boat.
I knew entrepreneurial digital nomads were using it to massively streamline their business development & automation, but those type of use cases didn’t apply to my situation. I knew coders/programmers were utilizing it to code, but that wasn’t me either. I didn’t really know where to start or what to even do with it. And my first few attempts with ChatGPT-3 were lackluster, not making much of an impression. So, I put it off. Until coming across a tipoff of how to access 3.5 for free through Microsoft Copilot. I gave it another shot. Starting out with fairly basic, simple stuff, it wasn’t anything completely outstanding; but, I began to experience slowly more & more of at least some potentials. And by the time OpenAI released ChatGPT-4o to the public for free last summer… oh yeah.
(Full-disclosure: I by no means consider myself anything even near an ‘expert,’ but rather still feel like a baby learning to crawl in this realm. Though in consideration of where I started over a year ago, might at least realistically be in ‘grade 2 or 3.’)
My first wave of “ah ha’s” probably came just realizing how much more damn efficient it can be over a standard search engine. Like, say you got a question in mind and go to Google… but realistically, it’s the type of thing that you’re gonna have to go looking through the search results, maybe check out a few different sites, read through a bunch of text that includes alot of irrelevant filler, parse together a few bits from each, and maybe 10 minutes later, you’re satisfied with the answer you were looking for…
Versus with ChatGPT:
You spend a few seconds more to articulate the question more clearly & precisely… hit return… and BAM. You’ve got a straightforward, clear answer in SECONDS.
Going through that process enough times… something “clicked.”
I wasn’t asking anything super complicated yet, but consistently, I was amazed at how quickly & easily I could get answers to slightly more complicated questions than just searching for facts on the internet, how gracefully this thing could retrieve exactly what I was asking for.
This was something different. Potent with potentials I still can’t comprehend.
I can’t even fully recall the progression from there, but was definitely during a phase of using ChatGPT as a ‘nutritional/health consultant’ that expanded things into my next wave…
I’d been doing the X3 variable-resistance band training for years, but only actually slowing down to get it right the year prior, while also finally picking up the creator’s book, paying more attention to what was being shared in the Facebook community, and getting more into the science behind it. So deep-diving I went into learning yet more details of muscle-protein-synthesis (MSP), intermittent fasting, hormonal stuff, all kinda of supplements, carnivore diet, etc. And holy jeezus, the exploration of nuances with ChatGPT. Not just the standard looking-up-facts as done via traditional learning, but a discovery process in which context became increasingly clear, refined, customized, and dynamic - tailored to the specifics of my body type, diet, routines; picking apart where statements passed off as facts do and don’t hold true, where certain conditions change things, how the alchemy of the different puzzle pieces fit together and transform things.
It’s been kinda wild, tbh.
Though even before that wave, I’d begun noticing something particularly fascinating…
While there are some who figure using AI is just “making people stupid, lazy, etc,” I found it to be exactly the opposite. On the contrary, it was feeling more like an absolutely fantastic course/practice in self-development.
It quickly became clear that the more detailed, precise, and well-articulated the questions/prompts given, the more potent, powerful, clear, and detailed the answers.
Which in/of itself, became a sort of self-rewarding/reinforcing process of refining my thinking, increasing my standards and capacity for precision, discernment and nuance, and practicing/embodying higher-quality linguistic proficiency as building the bridges from that internal game of mastery to the outer expression as prompt.
This was a subtle awareness. But significant.
(And in case anyone is wondering: no, I do not use ChatGPT for writing or editing. That is one skill I have chosen not to outsource, and everything you’re reading here is typed straight out of my own eight fingertips.)
Then there was the language-learning wave…
I had a couple months of strong inspiration at/from the idea of returning back to Indonesia… and learning more of the language. So, in addition to leaning into some online resources to refresh & expand upon my existing capabilities speaking/understanding Indonesian, I put ChatGPT to the test again. And wow. Holy fuck.
Granted, such a use-case isn’t always straightforward, and there’s a boundless creative potential to make what you will of it. So, there may naturally be some trial-and-error without a clear, pre-trodden path to follow. But being able to ask any question at any time and get an answer to the degree of detail you choose; to define your own pop-quizes, have a personal mentor 24/7 willing to go wherever you want whenever you want and expand into any branch you choose… 🤯
And again, I barely scratched the surface. I’d only even stuck to reading & writing during that wave, but considering the capability to speak and listen as well… there may be alot of different ways to learn a language, but it’s probably safe to say that anyone not utilizing tools like ChatGPT (or Grok, Claude, Gemini, etc.) in their process is seriously missing out.
And then, there was the therapy wave…
I’d caught wind of people using it for therapy and the thought had crossed my mind. Eventually, I gave it a test… again, mind blown.
And yeah, it may not be a a full replacement for human one-on-one therapy for everyone. And yes, maturity & discernment are essential. But wow. Y’all don’t even know. (Unless/until you do.)
I’ve always been fairly averse to the idea of therapy, knowing it’d be a high likelihood of having to spend an insane amount of money cycling through dozens of therapists until found one I actually resonated with, and then probably having to spend an insane amount more for hundreds of hours to extract all the backstory and paint the full context necessary to make myself clear enough for someone to offer some precise feedback rather than just some vague platitudinal shit I could already anticipate them saying. But given I often communicate better in writing and had already been undergoing this developmental process of refining my prompts to keep increasing the quality of input & output with my ChatGPT sessions … there came some pretty damn sharp reflections that helped me see exactly why therapy is / can be of value.
As much as ChatGPT can simply regurgitate your own words reflected back sometimes (often almost annoyingly as it seems to be adding in more ego-stroking, cheerleading and appeasement as of lately, which others have also found not so wonderful), the time & energy put into crafting a precise pays off - and some of the gems it can come back with in therapy-ish focused threads… 🤯
And, there’s kinda no real limit on where ya can go with it.
Detailed deep-dive on the physics of how snowboard specifications translate into riding experience, going beyond the surface into sidecut-radius:effective-edge:width ratios and comparing how different boards measure up against one another as these various factors offset/compliment one another? ✅
What kind of flooring materials would be conducive to grounding/earthing in a custom-built villa, alternatives technologies to chlorine pools, and how unconventional design/architecture might fit my Uranus in 45th house? ✅
Assessing foot issues in thorough detail it’d probably take an incredibly rare specialist to only scratch the surface of, with only a well-written description and picture? ✅
Idea-sketching a concept for a wildfire-fighting technology merging zero-point energy and atmospheric water generation to a level of proficiency I could not have myself… and expanding out to a mockup overview for concept of a decentralized idea-hub for such revolutionary innovations, factoring in business, cultural & political considerations…? ✅
Cooking & gardening assistant? Rapid troubleshooting issues/glitches with Ableton while producing music? Quick calculation of print resolution & dimensions for custom artwork? Shortcut-learning specific tasks in (Photoshop-competitor) Affinity? Playfully debunking faulty “science” rooted in bias and ignorance of key nuances? Exploring astrological aspects & transits? Stunningly accurate dream analysis? Discovering the mathematics & metaphysics of reality creation/projection and multidimensionality of harmonic (in)coherence & recursive patterns at root of specific emotions, physical health issues, and karmic relationship patterns with (Robert Edward Grant's) The Architect? ✅✅✅
Y’all don’t even know. (Unless/until you do.)
And I still don’t feel I’ve even begun scratching the surface.
Haters gonna hate. And many do.
But the thing is, AI is merely a tool.
A man can burn down a house (or city) with fire. He can also heat a house in the middle of winter, keeping his family warm & alive. A knife can kill a man in the hands of someone yielding it carelessly or with ill-intent. It can also be used to save a life, or serve several other purposes that make life far simpler & easier.
Some choose to view AI through filters of cognitive biases that project it as some massive existential threat, dragging the same type of religious fundamentalism into it suggestive that we’d all be better reversing back time to the days of living in caves than embracing evolution and becoming wise stewards of the resources & technologies emerging through the portal of forward momentum through time. ”To each their own.” However, those who continue to demonize AI and judge those who use it without ever even having attempted to truly comprehend or use it themselves are only engaging in some self-righteous bullshit and projecting a course for their futures comparable that to ol’ granny/grandpa who’s never touched a computer or smartphone, insisting the internet is some sort of apocalyptic manifestation of the devil.
And the type of clickbait FUD circulating on social media citing “scientific studies” “proving” claims such as “ChatGPT is making people stupid…” ha. Let’s go select a group of stage-5 cancer patients who drink water daily, and we can produce a study proving the conclusion 95% of people drinking water daily end up dead within months. Following…? ->>> The claim of “ChatGPT users” (show decreased brain activity in scans) based on a select group of lazy students using it for the specific purpose of cheating / shortcutting to have it do their school work for them ≠ any sort of accurate representation of all users of ChatGPT, a majority of which who may be using it in vastly different ways for very different purposes. (Case in point: discernment of details & nuances is essential to cultivating & exercising intelligence - whether using AI as a tool or taking biased clickbaity claims at face value or not.)
Indeed, there is the potential for using these tools in ways that diminish one’s capacity for expansive thinking… just as there is for increasing it. Yes, one can engage with it in ways that decrease the brain’s abilities for complex pattern recognition… and/or increase it. Yes, there have been some who’ve been using it without conscientious discernment and end up accentuating ‘spiritual psychoses…’ and there are also many utilizing wisely in ways benefically serving conscious growth. To attempt dismissing AI as a whole on the basis of whatever argument generalizing all uses/users under blanket assumptions is just as self-righteously arrogant/ignorant as stating “crypto is just for criminals,” “the internet is just for porn addicts,” “what is not normal is evil and must be erradicated” fundamentalism, etc, etc.
But of course, you can’t convince people of what they don’t want, aren’t ready, or aren’t designed to hear.
While we may all encounter a bit of noise along the way of/from those who don’t get it, perhaps the key is: be so busy immersing yourself in learning & growth that the clarity of the refined signal of Truth emerges as the guide. And fuck the opinions founded in/on limited perspectives & flawed logic.
One’s relationship with any tool is a personal one. Not fully understandable or definable by anyone else.
Personally, I’ve continually been in awe as using ChatGPT - not just witnessing its capabilities, but with the resparking of my own curiosity & wonder. To have access to answers there wasn’t previously -> a breeding ground for new & different questions. Being able to engage in inquiry with a vastly expansive nature as to how answers can come, with the output proportional to input - not limited by the restraints of time required to search for data points and piece them together, but the degree of detailed refinement, precision, nuance and discernment you bring to the table… game-changer.
Yada, yada, yada.
I may have already said everything required to be said, albeit some of it encoded between the lines.
Of course, as with any technology, there’s a learning curve. “Where to begin” is a valid question if you’re still new to it; and there’s no clear answer, perhaps other than: just start. Sometimes, we may want a whole series of swimming lessons before getting into the pool; but sometimes, you just gotta jump in and learn as ya go.
So if you ‘haven’t yet’ jumped in, what are you waiting for?
May something within this have seeded a curiosity and/or some small pointer that’ll serve ya well as but a glimpse of an example amidst any uncertainty of where to start (or go next if you already have). Though, the really fun part: exploring entirely new & different uses of your own; making discoveries only you can make in collaboration with these tools; expanding into unchartered territory reliant upon yourunique input to open it.
And may you deeply enjoy the journey… 😎💖
"The future belongs to those who embrace this technology early and use it strategically.
"GPT-5 is going to unlock possibilities we can't even imagine yet; make sure you're ready when it arrives."
~ 'Julian Goldie'