If you haven’t visited my site before and only read these things through email, may I ask you go and have a look at the site. It’s matthewcowen.org, and I have been dipping into the world of CSS styles and such. I’ve added a preferred font for the site, styled the text and paragraphs better and messed with the dividers. Rather than have the thousands of words on the home page, I changed it to include first paragraph summaries with an invitation to “Read more…” as well as simplifying titles —I was trying to be too clever.
I’ve been remarkably quiet about AI on this newsletter. I think it is time to change that. Upfront, this is a long one. Enjoy.
I conducted a search on all the writing I have done on this newsletter about AI since its inception (not other places I write, only here) and I have mentioned AI 17 times. I first mentioned in 2019, where I naively discussed the generalisation of AI for automation, which, I essentially, argued that manufacturing robots and automated lines would be boosted through AI to make things more efficient.
It’s bullshit and it always was. I don’t think I need to go into too much detail here, but I think it is important for to take note on where I stand about some of the things that are happening in the world of tech. I’m not sure that I’m ready to share certain parts of that discussion just yet, butI do think that I’ll address them in good time.
I know, I know, I’ve taken an extended break from writing here, from what started as an intended short break in Spring, turned into a six-month absence.
I haven’t been idle; quite the opposite, but I haven’t had the opportunity to devote enough time to the subjects I wanted and still want to write about. It is a big effort each time, and a few things in my personal life kind of got in the way.
If you have been reading my writing for the last few years or so, you’ll know that I have been trying to better understand the workings and innards of the Internet and share that understanding as much as I can in a coherent manner. I fail sometimes, and I get it right other times. That’s okay, and that’s the only way to learn something deeply.
Ever since I first connected to a university terminal and hopped several links to get to the Internet properly, I have been connected and in some way involved with the Internet.