Un nuovo convertito al culto di ChatGPT

Money quote: "In conclusion, while I was initially reluctant to try ChatGPT, I now see the value that AI technology can bring to the world of software development. While the value of some of our skills may be decreasing, the opportunity to leverage the remaining 10% in new and innovative ways is tremendous. By embracing AI tools like ChatGPT, we can work smarter, not harder, and deliver even greater value to our clients and our industry as a whole."

https://tidyfirst.substack.com/p/90-of-my-skills-are-now-worth-0

Per una sorta di paradosso della storia, i primi a patire l'impatto di ChatGPT sono i poveri della Terra. L'intelligenza artificiale infatti sta togliendo il lavoro ai kenioti che scrivono saggi per gli studenti universitari statunitensi. I ghostwriter sostengono che la rapida ascesa di ChatGPT ha coinciso con un calo del reddito.

Money quote: "For the past nine years, Collins, a 27-year-old freelance writer, has been making money by writing assignments for students in the U.S. — over 8,500 miles away from Nanyuki in central Kenya, where he lives. He is part of the “contract cheating” industry, known locally as simply “academic writing.” Collins writes college essays on topics including psychology, sociology, and economics. Occasionally, he is even granted direct access to college portals, allowing him to submit tests and assignments, participate in group discussions, and talk to professors using students’ identities. In 2022, he made between $900 and $1,200 a month from this work.

Lately, however, his earnings have dropped to $500–$800 a month. Collins links this to the meteoric rise of ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence tools."


https://restofworld.org/2023/chatgpt-taking-kenya-ghostwriters-jobs/

Apple, tra le altre novità per le prossime versioni dei suoi sistemi operativi che verranno presentati all'inizio dell'estate, sta preparando un'app per tenere un diario. E fare fuori tutte le app di terze parti che fanno quella stessa cosa magari da anni. Non è la prima volta, e chi sviluppa sulla piattaforma di Apple lo sa, lo teme e addirittura c’è chi ha trovato un nome per definire questo fenomeno: essere Sherlocked …

Money quote: "A new report says that one of the new features being introduced as part of iOS 17 is an Apple journaling app, along the lines of the popular Day One app (shown above).
The new app will be one of the stock apps pre-installed on all new iPhones, and will reportedly be able to automatically track your location and read data from other Apple apps"

https://9to5mac.com/2023/04/21/apple-journaling-app/

La mia piccola ossessione per Vim, l'editor di testo da riga di comando. È molto utile e molto potente ma anche molto difficile. Questo è un buon tutorial per imparare, utile anche a chi deve mantenere le competenze acquisite.

Money quote: "Kana the Wizard says there are five (5) levels to Vim mastery:

Level 0: not knowing about Vim
Level 1: knows Vim basics
Level 2: knows visual mode
Level 3: knows various motions
Level 4: not needing visual mode"

https://danielmiessler.com/study/vim/

Chi di lavoro scrive sta per perdere il posto (o la possibilità di generare reddito, se indipendente) a causa delle intelligenze artificiali. Oppure no? C'è l'ipotesi che gli scrittori possano essere ottimi Prompt Engineers, un nuovo lavoro che pare sia pagato anche decisamente bene.

Money quote: "The idea of a “prompt engineer” came in response to AI text and image generators, which people noticed would produce higher-quality content when users give specifically-phrased prompts, as opposed to just asking naturally. The noscript describes people who are supposedly skilled at selecting the right phrasing so that AI tools generate the most accurate and relevant responses. Some job offerings now claim to pay as much as $335,000 and don’t require that applicants have a tech background—several times higher than the average freelance copywriter salary in the United States, which is $55,238."

https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7ebkz/writers-are-becoming-ai-prompt-engineers-a-job-which-may-or-may-not-exist

Ne siamo usciti!

La storia straordinaria del manga e dell'anime che ha definito la mia gioventù. Se non l’avete mai letto, recuperatelo e leggetelo (o trovate il film).

Money quote: ""Kaze no Tani no Nausicaä" (Nausicaä della Valle del Vento) è il manga più famoso del maestro dell'animazione giapponese Hayao Miyazaki (autore, tra l'altro, di cartoni animati "storici" come "Heidi" e "Conan, il ragazzo del futuro" e dei recenti lungometraggi animati "La principessa Mononoke" e "La città incantata"). Il fumetto è stato serializzato, tra il febbraio 1982 e il marzo 1994, a più riprese tra i film di Miyazaki, sulla rivista nipponica Animage edita da Tokuma Shoten e, in seguito, raccolto in sette volumi.
"Shuna no tabi" ("Il viaggio di Shuna", 1983) è un breve manga di Miyazaki di 147 pagine colorato ad acquerello e considerato da molti il prototipo di Nausicaä.

Nausicaä ha venduto oltre 10 milioni di copie in Giappone ed è stato tradotto nelle principali lingue. Nel 1984 lo stesso Miyazaki, dieci anni prima del termine del manga, ha diretto l'omonimo film d'animazione."

https://www.ubcfumetti.com/enciclopedia/nausicaadellavalledelvento/

Ecco come il fumetto è diventato digitale

https://www.macitynet.it/ecco-come-il-fumetto-e-diventato-digitale/

Quello giapponese è un mondo visivo, un impero delle immagini oltre che dei segni. Esploriamo cinque colossi della fotografia, cinque maestri della luce. Buona domenica.

Money quote: "The Japanese Shōwa period, coinciding with the reign of Emperor Hirohito from 1926 to 1989, is noted as one of Japan’s most tumultuous and transformative eras. Over these many decades Japan went from a militaristic empire to a conquered, occupied nation – one that had experienced first-hand the horrors of atomic warfare. After WWII, it crawled out of the embers of defeat to metamorphose into a liberal democracy and an economic powerhouse. This rebirth opened Japan to a deluge of foreign ideas and influences.

Against this backdrop many Japanese photographers would emerge to document the profound changes in their nation with bare, raw realism. Others pushed the boundaries of long held societal norms and taboos.

I’ve taken on the daunting task of picking just five photographers from this long period. These five Shōwa era masters of light exemplify the blistering pace of life that was challenging the very foundations of the nation. They propelled Japanese photography down new pathways."

https://casualphotophile.com/2021/03/16/five-masters-of-light-from-japans-showa-era/

Anche oggi un ottimo numero della mia newsletter è partito! (E non ancora tornato)

https://antoniodini.com/weekly/218/

L’abbiamo fatto di nuovo: ecco la puntata 27 di Tilde, fresca fresca.

https://tilde.show/podcast-27/

🎙È uscita Tilde ~ 27, l'ottava puntata della seconda stagione!

Titolo: L’esperienza di essere sé ~ Pontiggia è come Prince ~ Mostly Digest

"Siamo in ritardo ma abbiamo un prodotto invidiabile, no? Due famosi ladri di tè che fanno flanella online: cosa volete di più.".

→ tilde ~ su Spotify
→ tilde ~ su Apple Podcast
→ tilde ~ su Google Podcast

Potete ascoltare il podcast da Spotify, Google Podcast o Apple Podcast, oppure dal sito: tilde.show. Buon ascolto e buon lunedì!

P.S. In copertina, un disegno del nostro amico Karel (magari).

"Ricerca scientifica: la sola forma di poesia che sia retribuita dallo Stato".

Il biologo, filosofo e aforista Jean Rostand (1894-1977) ci ha lasciato alcune idee che sono piccoli gioielli soprattutto sul rapporto tra scienza e poesia.

Ad esempio, la scienza e la poesia sono come la sorella brutta e sistemata in società e la sorella bellissima e abbandonata. La prima, nonostante le sia andata meglio, si arrovella invano per farsi dire bella come la seconda.

https://metropolitanmagazine.it/jean-rostand-aforismi/

Il problema di Domus, la rivista ma soprattutto il sito, è che ha una qualità estremamente discontinua e non sempre riesce a cogliere davvero quello di cui parla. C'è un problema che prima o poi dovranno risolvere, se riescono a guardarsi da fuori. Questo articolo su Zaha Hadid, l'architetto scomparso alcuni anni fa che però è diventato un marchio che prosegue in maniera unica e anche un po' particolare, è un ottimo esempio. Titolato sul metaverso (Zaha Hadid era già pronta per il Metaverso) il testo poi parla d'altro e, nonostante sia interessante, è anche confuso e a tratti incongruente. C'è un'intenzione a monte ma un sacco di rumore e attrito nell'esecuzione. Peccato.

Money quote: "Oggi studi come Zha si fondano sulla “costruzione di una fitta rete di collaboratori accademici, scientifici, progettisti, consulenti ingegneristici, start-up tecnologiche, fornitori di software” racconta Bhooshan. Attraggono talenti “in grado di “sviluppare un approccio di primo principio alla pedagogia architettonica”, che si adoperano nella sperimentazione costante di nuove tecnologie in tutti i campi del design: automotive, computer grafica, videogiochi, moda, robotica."

https://www.domusweb.it/it/architettura/2023/05/02/zaha-hadid-era-gi-pronta-per-progettare-nel-metaverso.html

Il lavoro di Psyche è straordinario per qualità dei contenuti. Se venisse tradotto pari pari in italiano sarebbe una bomba, secondo me. O forse non interesserebbe nessuno, chissà. Comunque, prendete per esempio questo articolo e leggete come maestosamente arriva al punto dove vuole arrivare, e fa quello di cui racconta: ti cambia senza un bang.

Money quote: "We tend to think of major personal transformations as big, loud and sudden. We imagine an explosion of fireworks or, conversely, an earthquake that brings everything crashing down. But personal transformations don’t always follow a ‘bang’. Sometimes they build from a whisper."

https://psyche.co/ideas/personal-transformation-can-start-with-a-whisper-not-a-bang

Le intelligenze artificiali non ci rendono artisti - la mia rubrica per Fumettologica

https://fumettologica.it/2023/05/ai-intelligenza-artificiale-artisti/

Uno spiazzante genio e le sue spiazzanti idee

Money quote: “Lanier calls this technology Together mode; he helped design it this spring for Microsoft, where he has a post as an in-house seer of sorts. Initially he'd conceived of Together mode as a way to help Stephen Colbert—in whose house band Lanier sometimes performs when he's in New York—figure out how to host his show in front of a remote audience. (Lanier is sometimes credited as the father of virtual reality; he is also sometimes credited as the owner of the world's largest flute, in addition to the many other exotic instruments he collects and expertly plays.) But mostly he was trying to solve, as he's been doing since the early '80s, a problem relating to technology and how humans might use it. In this case: How could we better, more naturally communicate with one another in the middle of a pandemic?”

https://www.gq.com/story/jaron-lanier-tech-oracle-profile

Ecco il “Personal kanban” con i suggerimenti per ridurre il multitasking. Perché fa male al cervello.

Money quote: "James Benson, a former urban planner based in Seattle who authored Personal Kanban: Mapping Work — Navigating Life, tells Quartz that industrial Kanban was a way for Toyota to avoid overproducing. He has adapted the system to reduce overhead of the emotional sort—the “too many tasks on my mind” feeling that’s the biggest downside of our mostly doomed attempts to multitask"

https://qz.com/985821/personal-kanban-a-life-changing-time-management-system-that-explodes-the-myth-of-multitasking/

Alcuni piccoli o meno piccoli errori nel libro anti-Trump di Michael Wolff ne incrinano la credibilità. Oppure no.

Money quote: “Amid such an uproar, the matter of Mark Berman’s nonexistent breakfast at the Four Seasons hardly ranks. Still, even among the many errors in the book, some big and many small, this one stood out. It was the kind of mistake that only someone who doesn’t know Washington could have made—the kind of mistake that matters to a small handful of D.C. players. And it prompts readers to ask, If Wolff got the small things wrong, did he get the big things wrong as well? The Trump White House has seized on such mistakes to call into question the book’s damning, and mostly accurate, larger portrayal of this Presidency”

https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/michael-wolff-says-that-washington-will-bury-trump

Roger Federer è tornato più volte in testa alla classifica ATP, l’ultima ad un’età, 36 anni, semplicemente fantascientifica. È come se fosse andato a giocare con la generazione di tennisti dopo la sua. Secondo me però questo è il momento di rileggere uno degli articoli-fiume più belli scritti da David Foster Wallace per il New York Times, tradotto da noi come Tennis e Trigonometria. Un capolavoro di long form journalism che mi fa sentire ancora di più la mancanza dello scrittore americano. Lettura domenicale perfetta.

Money quote: “The Moments are more intense if you’ve played enough tennis to understand the impossibility of what you just saw him do. We’ve all got our examples. Here is one. It’s the finals of the 2005 U.S. Open, Federer serving to Andre Agassi early in the fourth set. There’s a medium-long exchange of groundstrokes, one with the distinctive butterfly shape of today’s power-baseline game, Federer and Agassi yanking each other from side to side, each trying to set up the baseline winner...until suddenly Agassi hits a hard heavy cross-court backhand that pulls Federer way out wide to his ad (=left) side, and Federer gets to it but slices the stretch backhand short, a couple feet past the service line, which of course is the sort of thing Agassi dines out on, and as Federer’s scrambling to reverse and get back to center, Agassi’s moving in to take the short ball on the rise, and he smacks it hard right back into the same ad corner, trying to wrong-foot Federer, which in fact he does — Federer’s still near the corner but running toward the centerline, and the ball’s heading to a point behind him now, where he just was, and there’s no time to turn his body around, and Agassi’s following the shot in to the net at an angle from the backhand side...and what Federer now does is somehow instantly reverse thrust and sort of skip backward three or four steps, impossibly fast, to hit a forehand out of his backhand corner, all his weight moving backward, and the forehand is a topspin screamer down the line past Agassi at net, who lunges for it but the ball’s past him, and it flies straight down the sideline and lands exactly in the deuce corner of Agassi’s side, a winner — Federer’s still dancing backward as it lands. And there’s that familiar little second of shocked silence from the New York crowd before it erupts, and John McEnroe with his color man’s headset on TV says (mostly to himself, it sounds like), “How do you hit a winner from that position?” And he’s right: given Agassi’s position and world-class quickness, Federer had to send that ball down a two-inch pipe of space in order to pass him, which he did, moving backwards, with no setup time and none of his weight behind the shot. It was impossible. It was like something out of “The Matrix.” I don’t know what-all sounds were involved, but my spouse says she hurried in and there was popcorn all over the couch and I was down on one knee and my eyeballs looked like novelty-shop eyeballs.

Anyway, that’s one example of a Federer Moment, and that was merely on TV — and the truth is that TV tennis is to live tennis pretty much as video porn is to the felt reality of human love.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/sports/playmagazine/20federer.html

Plasma, quarto sconosciuto. Un articolo sul mio stato della materia preferito.

Money quote: “Plasma physics is a rich and diverse field of enquiry, with its own special twist. In some areas of science, intellectual vitality comes from the beauty of grand theories and the search for deep underlying laws – as shown by Albert Einstein’s account of gravity in general relativity, or string theorists’ attempt to replace the Standard Model of subatomic particles with tiny oscillating strands of energy. The study of plasmas also enjoys some remarkably elegant mathematical constructions, but unlike its scientific cousins, it’s mostly been driven by its applications to the real world.”

https://aeon.co/ideas/plasma-the-mysterious-and-powerful-fourth-phase-of-matter