This old GoPro (somehow attached to my head) had a small sensor (pixelates) so I futzed with the image, sort of smeared it, to make it look more like a painting. I dunno if this is any good. is it obvious that that’s a surfboard in the b.g.?
My reason for posting this one is how much I’ve missed surfing, both lately and going way back to when I left on this road trip. The two mistakes that led to my land-bound circumstances (I’m repeating myself again): The first being the biggie, selling my farm and leaving Pavones, the other the simple error of not towing a trailer back from Mexico in 2007, which meant that Mexico thinks my old truck is still in-country and won’t let me enter with another vehicle. (Yes, I tried the usual mordida multiple times, pero no sirvio).
Jesus, what a disaster that was. When I hit the road in 2014 I was actually headed for Saladita, Mexico. Here’s an old video of the place. Loved that left; a perfect longboard wave. Anyway, this ‘selfie’ was from around that time, maybe 2008, something like that, done with an old GoPro. (I think I mentioned that Nick Woodman, who invented GoPro and is now a billionaire, has given me innumerable GoPros, ever since the beginning, when he was working out of his garage. Just because he liked Zero. (He sent me six new ones in 2014 for this trip; I’ve lost or broken all of them.)
Last night I came across a movie I’d seen years ago and watched it again. It’s called AlphaGo The Movie; it’s the story of how a team of young geniuses with very little money developed an algorithm that beat the best Go player maybe that ever lived. Talk about a quandary! I mean about how to feel about what happens. You have to understand that Go is not like chess, wherein a computer can use brute computing power (force) to predict every possible scenario and so forth, and thereby beat any human. Go is different and really needs creativity…
Might as well throw in another selfie. As Ive aged I learned to move the camera as far away as possible (plus sunglasses). This one is via my drone.
Addendum: The ‘t’ key on my f-ing MacBook sometimes doesn’t work unless I type it in bold, so please keep this in mind.
There’s a moment in the movie that is (or should be) outright chilling, when the creators of the algorithm think AlphaGo has made an inexcusable amateur mistake and would surely lose the game (it was best out of 5) and all the ‘experts’ were horrified as well. (I don’t really understand the game but I do trust their judgement on this.) Turned out to be a truly ‘creative’ move, way beyond human capability. Truly creative. Intuitive. You gotta really think about that. Does it mean computers are on the verge of sentience?
Keep in mind this was years ago and with Moore’s Law (the exponential rise in computing power, etc.), the implications are… I dunno what they are, but we should probably be as worried about this as we should be about the coming solar micro-nova.
So, if you haven’t seen this one, make some time and do so, is my advice today.
Allan
I’ve gotten three new contributors ($3.25 a month) in the last few days, plus a one-timer of $20 (Click here if you are in the mood to do this). Very encouraging. I may be on the verge of sentience.
If you want to send something via snail mail (doesn’t have to be money), here is my address: 41 West Highway 14, #253, Spearfish, SD 57783. Let me know via email if you send something.
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