My geek interests are not a very limited. In fact they are quite broad. And diverse. One area of fascination to me is the computer interface, and in particular, text-to-speech and the holy grail, speech recognition. Perhaps it all began with dear Scotty. That would make sense.
Part of my fascination stems from the realization that one day, it is actually going to work. And that will have some consequences which people generally don't realize today. Take the common complaint that no matter where you call nowadays, you never get a human on the other end of the line, only a computer.
Well what happens when you can't tell the difference any more?
Speech interfaces are putting more and more emphasis on imitating the conversation, not just delivering raw text-to-speech. Idle chit-chats and pleasantries actually add an eerie quality to computer speech. Yes, that one is a work in progress, and yes, it is nowhere near there yet, but you can still envision where it is going.
Like what you see?
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
The finger
Back in pseudo-geek mode. Is that my shelter, perhaps?
Anyways.
Over the last few years, I have successfully managed to change my working life so that I am no longer plagued by incessant cell phone calls. Quitting my jobs, starting new companies with me doing virtually no day-to-day fronting, moving a couple of thousand miles, and changing all my phone numbers seem to have done the trick. Not that I did all that to stop the phone from beeping. No, that was just a pleasant side effect.
But that has not cut down on annoying beep-beep interruptions when I am talking to other people, face to face. No, now it is just their phones beeping twice as much. So what to do?
Put on the ring.
Anyways.
Over the last few years, I have successfully managed to change my working life so that I am no longer plagued by incessant cell phone calls. Quitting my jobs, starting new companies with me doing virtually no day-to-day fronting, moving a couple of thousand miles, and changing all my phone numbers seem to have done the trick. Not that I did all that to stop the phone from beeping. No, that was just a pleasant side effect.
But that has not cut down on annoying beep-beep interruptions when I am talking to other people, face to face. No, now it is just their phones beeping twice as much. So what to do?
Put on the ring.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Under
Perhaps you know the feeling. Hopefully not.
You are swimming. Or diving. Going deeper and deeper between coming up for air. Spending longer and longer time under the water each time. And then, when you're returning to the surface from one of those strokes, or dives, you all of a sudden find that the water is taller than you thought.
Instantly, you enter fight-or-flee mode. Your pulse quickens, you feel a burning sensation in your lungs, as you kick extra-hard to get to the surface. Time slows to a crawl, and you start seeing things in slow-motion. As your vision gets that red tint, and your ears start to ring, you could swear that you can taste blood in your mouth. As you push yourself desperately those last few feet onto the top of the water mass, you are equally amazed at how much further up it turned out to be as you are of the fact that you were able to get there. That you actually had the reserve energy. That you lived. And for that briefest of moments, you are totally alive. You live in that blink of an eye.
I have had my share of this happening in real-life. Those encounters leave you with memories, sometimes nightmares, but also profound gratitute, plus some valuable life lessons. Such as "Darwin is out to get you".
But while those physical ones are manageable, if challenging, they pale in comparison with what happens when life becomes the water. Now, let me be clear. It isn't that living life becomes a burden to me. It never does. Perhaps I had a touch of that when I was a teenager, but the never got to being even a mild depression. So that's not it. Besides, what are teenage years without a few crisis?
No, I never question life or the value of living it. They will have to "pry it from my cold, dead fingers", so to speak. But while living it, I will encounter facts that I can find immesurably hard to bear. At first, I will just flat out deny them. That buys me a few months. Or years. But then, eventually, they will come back to me. And the horror of them start to sink in. The cold, hard "truth" of the matter. I may have my fine life, career, family, friends, everything. But that just is not enough. I still have this fundamental need. I just know that there is this thing that is not right. I feel a monumental need to right that wrong. But I don't know how to do that. And from time to time I start to think that I just can't. That I never will.
And that's when I go under.
Apparently, drowning does turn from being this frightening elongated moment of terror, into a rather pleasant state of calm and relaxation, once you succumb to it. Maybe that is Nature's way of saying "Hey, you tried your utmost to keep yourself alive, but since it is obvious that you can't, then there is no point in turning your last moments into a misery." In some ways, I wish I could just let this go. Just drop calmly into my assigned role of a husband, a father, an employer, an employee, a consumer, whatever. It is as if I can hear somebody saying "Don't fight it son. Confess quickly! If you hold out too long you could jeopardize your credit rating."
But it is not possible. You simply can't go and drown yourself. And neither can I just decide to let go. If you feel something deeply, then you do. It is as simple as that. Even if you still have no idea what to do about it. So you are left with enduring. And fighting that wall of water every time you have to. Maybe that is the whole point of it all. Who knows?
"Return, I will. To old Brazil."
You are swimming. Or diving. Going deeper and deeper between coming up for air. Spending longer and longer time under the water each time. And then, when you're returning to the surface from one of those strokes, or dives, you all of a sudden find that the water is taller than you thought.
Instantly, you enter fight-or-flee mode. Your pulse quickens, you feel a burning sensation in your lungs, as you kick extra-hard to get to the surface. Time slows to a crawl, and you start seeing things in slow-motion. As your vision gets that red tint, and your ears start to ring, you could swear that you can taste blood in your mouth. As you push yourself desperately those last few feet onto the top of the water mass, you are equally amazed at how much further up it turned out to be as you are of the fact that you were able to get there. That you actually had the reserve energy. That you lived. And for that briefest of moments, you are totally alive. You live in that blink of an eye.
I have had my share of this happening in real-life. Those encounters leave you with memories, sometimes nightmares, but also profound gratitute, plus some valuable life lessons. Such as "Darwin is out to get you".
But while those physical ones are manageable, if challenging, they pale in comparison with what happens when life becomes the water. Now, let me be clear. It isn't that living life becomes a burden to me. It never does. Perhaps I had a touch of that when I was a teenager, but the never got to being even a mild depression. So that's not it. Besides, what are teenage years without a few crisis?
No, I never question life or the value of living it. They will have to "pry it from my cold, dead fingers", so to speak. But while living it, I will encounter facts that I can find immesurably hard to bear. At first, I will just flat out deny them. That buys me a few months. Or years. But then, eventually, they will come back to me. And the horror of them start to sink in. The cold, hard "truth" of the matter. I may have my fine life, career, family, friends, everything. But that just is not enough. I still have this fundamental need. I just know that there is this thing that is not right. I feel a monumental need to right that wrong. But I don't know how to do that. And from time to time I start to think that I just can't. That I never will.
And that's when I go under.
Apparently, drowning does turn from being this frightening elongated moment of terror, into a rather pleasant state of calm and relaxation, once you succumb to it. Maybe that is Nature's way of saying "Hey, you tried your utmost to keep yourself alive, but since it is obvious that you can't, then there is no point in turning your last moments into a misery." In some ways, I wish I could just let this go. Just drop calmly into my assigned role of a husband, a father, an employer, an employee, a consumer, whatever. It is as if I can hear somebody saying "Don't fight it son. Confess quickly! If you hold out too long you could jeopardize your credit rating."
But it is not possible. You simply can't go and drown yourself. And neither can I just decide to let go. If you feel something deeply, then you do. It is as simple as that. Even if you still have no idea what to do about it. So you are left with enduring. And fighting that wall of water every time you have to. Maybe that is the whole point of it all. Who knows?
"Return, I will. To old Brazil."
Monday, July 25, 2005
Eyes
I know, I know. At the core, I really am just gadget-crazy. The only reason I am not waiting in line (yet), is that they don't have any astigmatic models (again, yet).
What is it about the eyes, anyway? Even though I am blind as a bat without my contacts/glasses, I would never, ever even consider doing something like this. They are just sacred, somehow. Considering how visually oriented I am, they constitute my most precious sense.
But the eyes are also something more. I sometimes feel like I have mine on loan, or something. 'Windows of the soul' really is no exaggeration. Not only are you outfitted with a pair of them, allowing you to drink in more of your life, as it passes you by, then you could ever do with the rest of your senses. But on top of that, when you use them to look into another person's eyes, you can see a whole other world.
You realize that we are little universes, bumping against each others. And you just might close your eyes for a moment, and quietly say your thanks for being alive to experience it all.
What is it about the eyes, anyway? Even though I am blind as a bat without my contacts/glasses, I would never, ever even consider doing something like this. They are just sacred, somehow. Considering how visually oriented I am, they constitute my most precious sense.
But the eyes are also something more. I sometimes feel like I have mine on loan, or something. 'Windows of the soul' really is no exaggeration. Not only are you outfitted with a pair of them, allowing you to drink in more of your life, as it passes you by, then you could ever do with the rest of your senses. But on top of that, when you use them to look into another person's eyes, you can see a whole other world.
You realize that we are little universes, bumping against each others. And you just might close your eyes for a moment, and quietly say your thanks for being alive to experience it all.
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