I've been thinking

... but probably too much

I need to write down my ideas, so I don’t lose them in the mental crowd of ADHD. I just think it’s a good idea to just write, stream of consciousness, and let it wander as it may. I try to concentrate less on myself, because there’s a whole world out there that needs my reactions and assistance, at the very least, acknowledging people who I admire, or who have taught me many things. That’s pretty much everyone I follow or subscribe to. In the last post, I hope I established that I’m not “made of money”, but it’s important to me that I boost the people who give me wisdom and pleasure with their writing. Then, it’s really just a matter of budget.

It’s no secret that I have a lot of trouble with my Weltanshauung (I had to look up the spelling — German is not one of the languages I’m fluent in). It’s (badly) translated as “World View”, but it’s more than that — it includes how you present yourself to the world. I have a lot of trouble with comparing two things of any kind — like, if I’m presented with a list of anything, I just can’t rank or prioritize them, without getting very upset. So I wake up each morning not knowing what to do, or even to list the tasks I MUST do.

Sometimes I just fill the time with rabbit holes (I keep my browser history to show me a bit of my choices, or to capture those great (and small) ideas that flood my brain. I write (on paper!) a journal entry daily, unless that very activity gets delayed or forgotten. I then scan the pages of the journal, and use the scanning app to transform them into editable text. I can copy and paste, search, and otherwise remind myself what I did or planned to do. There is open source software that helps, but I haven’t evaluated it yet, including one very tempting application that dates every image or text file and creates a timeline of your life. I suppose I can make a mind map out of it and look at the paths I took to get to a particular thought.

OK — I admit I’m a computer nerd, and have been since the time when computers took up entire rooms, and obviously not a wristwatch like they do now. It was before the internet ruined individual thinking, and I don’t think I ever concentrated on a book, but simply immersed myself in its words and pictures, and let osmosis do the rest.

I can think of uses of AI as an assistant, but certainly not as a substitute for the mind. Basically, to help me in the decision process, to clear away the noise, and to automate some tasks that I could ignore for days at a time, but with prompts to me as a sentient mammal, hopefully triggering me to do something I was avoiding, or forgot in passing.

Going back to the original subject (a very difficult process), I would need help deciding which Substack to be a paid subscription, or even which subscriptions I should drop altogether, because they were initiated as “a good idea at the time”. Few impulsive choices survive to become everyday reading.

Sometimes the creator has veered off into territory that conflicts with my core principles. A good example is Michael Cohen. Regrettably, I even took out a paid subscription. It was an easy decision to drop it. But it became a free subscription, not a complete severance. I suppose I could try again to drop it even further. I don’t want to block him entirely. That’s just plain rude.

I enjoyed his angry take on Donald Trump, but he slipped back into the Epsteinian orbit of his former boss, and is adopting a more rightwing persona. Maybe that’s what he always was, but did a good job of masking his true politics. Compare him to another former Trump ally, Lev Parnas, a stand-up guy who doesn’t have a smidgen of cruelty. I don’t know how much I agree with him in values. For example, my advocacy of People Of Difference. I’d be disappointed if say, he made a disparaging comment about trans people. Nevertheless, an incident like that would never be grounds for continuing my subscription — his staunch support for Ukraine, for example. But he did lead me to his incredible son Aaron, a reliable journalist and source of verifiable truth. I’d still drop his father.

Sooner or later, I’ll create an index to my articles summarizing and linking to them. That’s where I’ll harness the capabilities of AI, but under clear rules about not leaving the confines of my computer. I won’t put those TL;DRs within the articles themselves, though. Right now, I enjoy a “no AI” rating from Pangram. I know it’s a faulty application, but I don’t want to lose that. I can put that rating on my About page — I think it will reassure prospective subscribers and followers.

Clearly, an index containing summaries won’t pass Pangram’s scrutiny, because, after all, it really is 100% AI.

Another article I’d like to create is one containing recommendations for other creators whom I value, whether I pay for their subscriptions or not, and with my reasons that could well exceed 256 characters (or whatever the limit is).

I think I’ll stop now, before I write more than 1000 words. I need to rest, anyway, and refresh my mind, already badly cluttered.

In the closing word of my favorite YouTube host, Jago Hazzard, “CHEERIO!”