Death is Eternal #334
Sunday. February 5, 2022. 2,606 words.
Welcome to a very, very special Death is Eternal! Why is this newsletter special? Well, because, as promised, this one has no paywalls! So free subscribers rejoice! And have a taste of what you’re missing every week while you don’t upgrade your subscription! Without further ado, let’s see what this Death is Eternal will look like! (The next no-paywall newsletter will be on March 5, 2023.)
Contents
Hippie (intro)
Hippie
Writing: Self-editing
Artificial Intelligence
Twitter alternatives
Last week (from January 30 to February 5, 2023)
This week (from February 6 to 12, 2023)
Death is Eternal review #175: Greatness code
Death is Eternal review #176: My next guest needs no introduction with David Letterman
The end
1. Hippie (intro)
What motivated me to write this story was the realization that the homeless from the 1980s/90s were most likely the hippies from the 1960s/70s. A whole generation that fought for peace and the end of wars, for living in communities and appreciating one another and nature instead of caring for social status and things to consume and have, had to live through capitalism laughing at their faces for defending values other than the free market, thinking only about the self, and punishing them with social isolation. Do you realize how fucked up this is? All they wanted was peace and a society that cared for one another, but all they got was punishment, drug addiction, and homelessness. I think hippies are a great example of how bad capitalism truly is. Anyway... Please remember this is a first draft, and try to enjoy the reading despite that!
2. Hippie
Hazel Prince was, like many others, a daughter of two generations. Born in 1945, she was the last of the Silent Generation and one of the first Baby Boomers. She never fit in like the other daughters and sons born between generations.
Hazel never knew poverty and hunger as the Silent Generation.
She never understood the thrill of winning the war like the Baby Boomers.
To Hazel, war meant sadness and the unknown; Berlin had taken her father months before she was born. To Hazel Prince, her father was only three things: a photo, a dirty dog tag, and history.
No one was surprised when she grew up and became a hippie. And even though she technically was from the Silent Generation, she ensured that the world would hear her voice.
Hazel marched with Martin Luther Jr. to Washington, D.C., in 1963. She was at Selma on March 7, 1965, and in the same year, was back in Washington, D.C., on April 17.
In 1967, Hazel distributed flowers near the Pentagon. In 1969, she celebrated love and life in Woodstock.
Hazel couldn’t understand how anyone could be against peace, love, and life. She tried to talk and be empathic, but no one cared for what she had to say. To them, she was embarrassing her father’s sacrifice and memory. No one listened when Hazel said war didn’t give her a chance to create a memory of her father.
As the decades passed, the wars became fading memories. The Baby Boomers grew, as did capitalism. The hippies of the past became the tramps of the present.
Hazel Prince died alone, poor, and marginalized by a society that saw her as something hidden and forgotten. She wasn’t from the Silent Generation; she wasn’t a Baby Boomer.
Hazel never fit in because she tried to change the world through love. But the world never wanted to be loved.
The end
3. Writing: Self-editing
Recently I talked about how I don’t appreciate, or even care for, the editing and rewriting process. But I came to realize that’s not true. Or, at least, it’s a half-truth. The whole picture became clear to me this past week during the informal cohort meeting.
During the meeting, as we discussed what I wrote about writing in some Death is Eternal (and by the way, I’m still in awe that so many of my colleagues decided to subscribe to the newsletter and, more than that, decided to read it and discuss it! Thank you!) I realized I’m not opposed to editing, re-writing, re-editing, re-rewriting, and so on. I simply don’t like to do that when I don’t have an editor! My problem is not editing; it’s self-editing!
That made me think that, in reality, I don’t trust my inner editor—don’t tell this to anyone at Quietly, where I work as an editor! Actually, to be fair, it’s not that I don’t trust my inner editor all the time; I don’t trust when it comes to what I write. The problem is that I’m fully aware of what I tried to say, which clouds my judgment. To me, everything is always clear because I know what I’m trying to say. So, I don’t like to self-edit because I don’t feel it adds value to the process because, again, I know what I tried to say.
Editing is valuable, and the more submissions I send to the cohort—and the more they send it back with comments—the more I learn this lesson. So editing and rewriting aren’t a problem; the problem is self-editing because my self-judgment isn’t good enough to make the story better than before the editing and rewriting process.
Interesting!
Thanks, cohort!
4. Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (A.I.) is coming. We may like, we may hate, but regardless of our opinion, it’s coming. There’s no stopping—unless you’re a hacker like the ones in Mr. Robot. And since there’s no stopping, what we can do—what we should do—is learn to deal with it. And that’s what I’m trying to do. But while trying to learn, it’s impossible not to think about what kind of impact A.I. may have not in the future but right now.
While it’s impossible to know for sure how A.I. will impact the future, it’s interesting to see how it’s already impacting the present... Maybe “impacting” it’s not the best word here. Perhaps “showing” would be a better fit. Let me explain:
As this website shows, we’re currently in the “throw at the wall and see what sticks” phase regarding A.I. We have all kinds of A.I.s, from gym-workout generators to trip planners and everything in between. But despite the infinite number of options, the ones that make more noise and reach the news are the ones regarding writing and painting/drawing. And that led me to think about how artists are undervalued and underappreciated. If an A.I. can generate words or “paint” an idea, people will believe it created art and consider themselves artists. And while that’s not 100% wrong, it’s also not 100% correct.
Obviously, writing and painting are much more complex processes than having an idea. The idea is the easiest part of creating art. It’s so easy that multiple people can come up with the same idea. It’s not the idea that makes you an artist. Being an artist, it’s all about what you do with that idea. But people fail to see that because people tend to think about art only as the finished product. And if you believe that art is merely the words or the paint and not the reason why that word is in that place or why someone used navy blue instead of blue, you’ll never be able to tell the difference between art and the byproduct of an A.I. creation.
Now, I’m not saying A.I. will never—or doesn’t already—create art. I’d be an idiot to think that. All I’m saying is that you should praise each artist for their ability to create art. When it comes to art, A.I. and people can coexist, unlike other professions that machines can replace completely. But funnily enough, it’s always the artists that are deemed doomed. Well, we’ve been doomed throughout history, and you know what? We’re still here. And we’ll always be here. Making less and less money and being more and more undervalued and underappreciated. Still, we’ll always be here, enriching the world little by little.
5. Twitter alternatives
Not long ago, it seemed that Twitter was truly doomed, and we were a step away from finding the alternative. But that never happened. And while, yes, it bothers me a whole lot knowing that I’m helping that fucker get richer and richer, I still can’t move away from my favourite social media platform. And I tried!
At some point, I was using CounterSocial, HiveSocial, Koo, Plurk, and Mastodon. But they all failed to be proper replacements for Twitter. The biggest problem was the lack of a decision about which to migrate. Mastodon and HiveSocial were the most popular ones, but not necessarily all the people I wanted to follow were on both—in some cases, they were in none. Additionally, the former is a mess because of the “decentralization”—I couldn’t find people despite having their entire handle—and the latter went down, and I still don’t know if it’s back online.
But why am I talking about that now? Because I admire—while finding amusing—when I see someone on Twitter saying, “Here, follow me on X!” Or, “Here’s my Y user name.” I always go like, “Seriously, isn’t that dead yet? Haven’t we all accepted we’ll have to either kneel or fuck this thing so much, so he has no other option than to sell and lose massive amounts of money?”
I made my choice, and like a good captain, I won’t abandon the ship. Will I help the holes get bigger? Absolutely! But abandon? Never!
6. Last week (from January 30 to February 5, 2023)
As I foresaw, not a lot happened this week. And that’s bad. I wanted to have had a busy week because, well, because then you free subscribers would think my life is impressive and would feel the urge to upgrade the subscription to follow every new adventure I face every week. But, unfortunately, my life tends to be very dull. So if you want—and I think you should!—upgrade the subscription, do it because of my endless reflections about the world—as the ones on items 3, 4, and 5.
But anyway, let’s see what I did in the last seven days.
On the work front, I’d like to highlight a meeting with the client I primarily work with. I met them in person a while back and did it without my glasses—I only need them when working because of the blue blocker—but I was using them this time around. One of the people on the call said, “Giovani? Is that you? I almost didn’t recognize you with the glasses.” To which I replied, “It’s my Superman/Clark Kent kind of thing.” Everyone laughed, and I felt vindicated. Jessica always says that the glass isn’t enough to fool anybody. Well, I’m living proof that it is!
Personally, a couple of things here. The informal cohort meeting on Tuesday (Jan. 31, 2023) was as great as always, and, as you can read in item 3, it gave me a lot to think about. Also, one of our colleagues did a great and powerful reading that I thoroughly enjoyed. Additionally, I added indoor cycling—with the stationary bicycle, not a moving open—to the end of my workouts. It’s only ten minutes, but I’m really starting to see the difference in my body. I’m not as bloated as I was before. I love to lift weights, but aerobics is also essential.
As you can see, I’m really trying to squeeze blood from a stone here to make you feel like it’s worth upgrading to read about my life weekly. That alone should be enough to convince you!
Oh! I just remembered! Jessica and I bought tickets to fun things this past week. We’ll see John Mayer in Vancouver and Thrice in Portland, U.S. We’ll also go to our second FAN EXPO Vancouver. Life may not be interesting right now, but it’ll be in the future. You should stick around!
7. This week (from February 6 to 12, 2023)
Things will happen this week. What I’m most looking forward to, it’s The writer’s studio (TWS) workshop (Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023). It was my time to send a submission, and weirdly enough, I really, really liked what I wrote—once I receive the feedback, I’ll start publishing the drafts here—and so I want to know if others liked it as much as I did.
At work, there’ll be a social gathering on Wednesday (Feb. 8, 2023). We’ll go for some after-work drinks. I like these situations because they allow me to talk with my colleagues about things non-work related. As I’ve been learning with the twice-a-week calls that the other editors and I have, talking about amenities with people is good. Since coming to Canada, I have spent a long time without friends. I got used to not having friends. Now, I’m relearning how good it is to have colleagues with whom you can chat. So, I’m looking forward to Wednesday.
You see, sometimes things happen in my life. You have to stay tuned for the next chapters!
8. Death is Eternal review #175
Greatness code
Greatness code changed its focus.
The first season had athletes saying something about a specific moment that made them feel great. But the second season isn’t focused on a moment per se; there’s much more about their career, too. Yes, there’s still the great moment. But it’s not only that.
What I liked about the first season was the very focused approach. The expanded focus wasn’t that interesting to me. It’s not bad, but it wasn’t what I wanted to see.
Greatness code changes its focus, and while that’s not bad, it’s also not what I wanted.
9. Death is Eternal review #176:
My next guest needs no introduction with David Letterman
My next guest it’s as good as the people Letterman interviews.
But the funny thing is, people may surprise you. Like Cardi B did. Of all the episodes on the fourth season, Cardi B’s was the one I thought I wouldn’t like. Until literally yesterday (Feb. 4, 2023), I had never heard a song by her, and I only knew her existence because of this video, which is... something. So I was utterly shocked to discover she is much more interesting than I judged her to be. The rapper even defined J. Edgar Hoover perfectly, “Fake ass, motherfucker!”
Anyway, this was a great season of the show, and I highly recommend it.
My next guest it’s as good as the people Letterman interviews, and it’s always terrific when one of them shocks you.
10. The end
We got to the end. I know I joked a lot about it during the Death is Eternal, but if you are a free subscriber and enjoyed reading the entire newsletter, please consider upgrading to a paying subscription. I love to write the newsletter—I’ve been doing it since 2016—but it takes around 2:30 hours to write it, so it’d be lovely to make some money to at least help pay the bills. I won’t get mad if you decide not to upgrade. I love all my readers and subscribers equally, but I must say that, like the pigs in George Orwell’s Animal Farms, some are more equal than others. See you next week, bye!