Denner's Digest - 2022-12-26

Take a moment and consider something: in what ways could this be a deep fake? Add the case that this is actually two real people just acting. Now wonder whether you have the time and energy to work out which it is. That's the danger. But then consider the opportunities. In one of the tweets buried in the thread someone mentions movies. They say cheaper movie production because you don't need the actor. That you could replace actors with others for a local version, e.g. US movie into China. For me, Morgan Freeman is a great actor and I like the natural limitation on the number of appearances he can make. I don't want that talent to be cheapened or tainted.

I'm not surprised by the 99.5% project failure rate. As a software engineer I've been part of death march projects that have gone over budget, over time, and under delivered. I suspect it's more endemic at the smaller level projects. As the son of an architect, and avid watcher of Grand Designs, I'm genuinely surprised that it's in architecture you find the anomaly. Frank Gehry is an amazing artist in the field. And for him to deliver such powerful visions under budget, within time, and over deliver on the impact, is astounding.

Two elements of this made me read several of the links: First off another 2x2 matrix making it easy to see the concept. I admit that certain types of imperfection unsettle me. But I can appreciate how art can leverage these to create something special. Then the deliberate imperfections in Navajo rugs to allow the weavers soul to escape. Such a beautiful expression of how we put part of ourselves into things we create. The post about this, linked from Austin's, also explains that Navajos also saw God as perfect. Hence they would introduce these imperfections in their works. It's interesting to note that so do many other religions if you know where to look. "Perfect is the enemy of good", especially in business. We should see product as art and embrace imperfection as a stepping stone to betterment?

As I head for the end of my 5th decade, what lies ahead for my brain? This article was always going to be one I read! There's a school of thought that a young mind is configured to solve problems, quickly. An older mind knows if these problems need solving. This is the difference between fluid and crystallised intelligence. A community needs both, with the latter mentoring the former. It seems that there is evidence of a physical change that aligns, somewhat, with this.