Our biggest mistakes are our greatest teachers. Yoda is well aware of all the big blunders I’ve made in my life! There are many! Since I’ve been on my own,… basically since the ripe ‘ol age of 14, I’ve crammed a lot of big mistakes into my life. It’s ok! I learned very young, and very quickly, what might have taken others generations to learn.
I remember taking a computer class way back in the day, about 40 years ago. At the time, sitting next to me, was a much older lady. Forty years ago makes me 33 at the time. This lady was well into her late fifties. I asked her why she was taking this class… Her answer was enlightening! I’d forgotten this little experience until today…
As I type this I am located in the mountains of Southern Utah at the 8500 foot level. It’s nice and cool out, at about 60 degrees. “T” shirt weather for me, with a very nice Thunderstorm! The perfect time to sit and type my blog. This environment also allows me plenty of time to pause and reflect, without all the hustle and bustle of city life. Sorry I digress… back to the story!
The kind lady told me that she recently lost her job of over 25 years… Everyday she walked into work, where she diligently and faithfully carried out her work on a computer. The program she worked in was already opened. She did not even know how to arrive at that program, because it was always done for her.
She did not know how to turn on the computer, or do anything else with that computer except the same job she had done for over 25 years! She walked into that job one day to learn that her position was deleted, and she was handed her walking papers. She learned that her position was filled with a younger person, just out of school, that could do her job and many others at the same time, for less than half the money she was making!
BOOM! Paradigm shift! She was left in the dirt because she did not continue to learn. She was happy, and complacent with the twenty five year tenure she enjoyed. Now? She was not ready to retire, and she could not find another job! Was it age discrimination? Nope! It was lack of knowledge! The paradigm shift ate her alive. So she was trying to upgrade her skills.
Photographically this happened to me as well, when I went from Film to Digital. Now I needed to learn PhotoShop and I needed to do that quickly or be over run by the new Photographers entering the market fast!
As many of you might know, I’ve also held very high positions in the Gaming Industry, working for some of the absolute visionaries that built Las Vegas. Benny Binion, Howard Hughs, Steve Wynn, just to name a few. All of these positions I held in addition to my full time Photography endeavors.
In those positions I had knowledge of things that you would not believe! Every cheating scam known or dreamed by man or beast for one thing. Yes, I can count cards with the best of ’em, shuffle track, short cut, etc. etc. etc…
Electronic cheating methods? Yup! I know those too! Yes, I’m proud to be blacklisted from playing in every casino known. Why did I know these things and keep up on the new scams coming? ‘Cuz we couldn’t catch who was cheating us out of millions, unless we knew how they did it! Simple! Now? It’s been almost 30 years since I held a Casino Management position. I would need to study up A LOT!
Well now there is another paradigm shift in full swing. I have been totally avoiding this subject, and many times I have publicly stated my aversion to it. I was closed minded. Stubborn…
Ai & Why You NEED To Get Onboard!
Ai is not taking over everything, but it is a runaway train that you better get in front of! Otherwise? We will easily wind up like that pleasant older lady from my past! Like in my Casino Management days, I need to learn how NOT to get ripped off!
I can’t recognize their methods unless I first learn them! I have recently had to teach many of my Photography students, some basic computer 101 skills. Why? Because now a days Photography is digital! Film is basically gone. So if you were an outstanding Film Photographer, digital Photography will leave you in the dust. Especially if you loved the darkroom!
Our darkroom of the day is no longer stinky chemicals and a perfectly dark room with a red safe light. Now our darkroom is the computer, tablet, or smart phone you are reading this on! Your Photography skills are directly proportionate to your computer skills. Only now? WE have capabilities that the masters of the past only dreamed of! Plus! We can now print far better than we ever could in the days of Film!
You have all heard this… you PhotoShopped that image, so your Photography is NOT real! The uneducated person telling you this will never understand that ALL Photography has been “manipulated” or processed since the very beginning. So don’t argue with them. Simply walk away knowing that they are not very smart. They will never get it. The paradigm is too complex for them to understand. They don’t understand that even the jpeg straight out of their camera of choice, has been edited before they see it! In nanoseconds!
OK…What Can Ai Do For Photography?
We all know that Ai can create complete images. Yes even complete videos. However there are many things Ai can not create. Relationships for one. Critical thinking for another. There is more but we do not need to worry about that right now. There are many things Ai can assist us with. Mundane, repeatable tasks is a good place to start.
Like my lady in the story above, Ai can replace her, and many of the other jobs that new employee right out of school could do, and for less! In many cases free! So how is it going to help you? Experience and relationships are a couple of the ways.
Less than 50% of people over 55 experiment with Ai. They are being replaced by technology they refuse to touch! Ai has turned scamming older adults into an art form! Remember the scams we used to get on the phone by someone with a very thick accent? Well now we have deep fake technology so sophisticated, it can clone your wife’s voice, or your grandson! Scary Shit!
Older adults already lose 40% more per scam, than younger folks! Ai is handing scammers a nuclear weapon! The same technology that is supposed to make our lives easier, is being weaponized against the very population that built the world we live in!
Recently, facts proved that the Millennial Generation, has finally over taken the Baby Boomers! Yes their population is now larger. However! Facts have also proved that over 50% of the wealth is the US is held by the Boomers, while only 6% is held by the Millennials! They think they are smart… I know. But they are broke! And the scammers know this! So they are coming after your cash…
Things To Watch Out For…
They will perfectly impersonate one of your loved ones to get that money too! So? Time to learn some new stuff my friends. Currently you might see some ads on FB stating things like “new Ai class for people over 50!” Hmmm… what’s the down side of this? Has this ad been checked out by FaceBook? We all know just how good Facebooks fact checking is… terrible!
Could it be that people might be advertising in this way to build a list of people over 50 that have little knowledge of Ai? With the click on that ad, you are on that list! Buyer beware has never been more important than now!
Duplication of video across all social networking sites is currently rampant! Instagram, owned by Facebook, pays for followers and viewing time. So does TicTok. So lets just say you’ve spent the time and energy to build a following on Insta or one of the other platforms. That video you have out there can be copied, and used by someone else, to steal away some, or all of your audience!
This happens at alarming rates and there is nothing the original creator can do about it. Currently their defense is to create another video on their channel warning you of scam artists and thieves. But that’s all they can really do at this point. It’s another runaway train.
So What Can Ai Do For You?
Embrace the technology with the wisdom that only comes with the generation that has lived through multiple technological revolutions, like those of us that are charmingly antique have! Learn it! Master it! Use the technology to amplify what you already know, instead of replacing what you already are.
The older population has lived through many of the paradigm shifts we’ve seen in history! Ai can not navigate office politics. Ai can not make some very complex judgements that our brain can do in seconds. Why? Because that older generation has gone through what cannot yet be taught!
Here’s the psychological trap… Studies show that only only about 18% of people over 50 have tried generative Ai tools. Remember I said that word! Tools! Like your Camera! Like your Computer! We are talking about a generation that adapted to computers, the internet, smart phones, and social media!
But somehow this felt different to me! Scarier! More threatening! Maybe because this time the technology isn’t just changing how we work, but it’s questioning if we are needed at all….
So what’s the plan? I get to learn something new… AGAIN?!…I’ve always said that the day you stop dreaming or learning is the day you die. Well I’m not ready to go just yet… so my dream is to learn this new thing, so that it can assist me, instead of scare the shit outta me. I’m not learning Ai to become a 25 year old tech worker… I’m gonna learn Ai to become a more powerful version of who I already am!
BOOM! Topple the paradigm shift! Control it… instead of letting it control me. The future isn’t being written by algorithms. The future is being written by people who know how to USE algorithms!
So What Have I learned So Far…
Lets say you are a very good teacher for many decades now… And you’ve been replaced by someone younger and cheaper. Now we all know that new teacher can not possibly have the many decades of experience that you have.You have LOTS of lesson plans stored up. Proven lesson plans. They work! So you learn how Ai can read those plans, and turn them into E’books!
Now you can use Ai to create narrated YouTube slide shows without having to learn Video editing! What?? Yup! Now you have an online course empire and all you used was your knowledge and a little Ai to generate five times what you made as a teacher!
OR?? You can create an agent! Now this stuff is really cool, and I’m just scratching the surface. An agent is basically a scalable task manager or a “script” in computer talk. Guess what? You can have more than one agent, and they can talk to one another!
Now we all know computers do multiple functions in nanoseconds. Your brain can NEVER compete with how many functions a computer can do in a picosecond! Ok new word for ya huh? A picosecond is one trillionth of a second! A nanosecond is one billionth of a second. A femtosecond is one quadrillionth of a second. Trust me those are huge numbers! and VERY fast times.
This is starting to intrigue me more and more because I was using numbers in the decillions when I was back in the gaming industry. At 21 years old I was figuring up odds for Keno payoffs. I took advanced math classes like Calculus in High School. I have NEVER used any of that advanced math in my adult life except permutations.
To figure up how many ways you can create fifteen number combinations out of 80 numbers requires a permutation. That result is in the decillions. A decillion is a 1 with 33 zeros behind it. To put this in context? Our National Debt is currently over 37 trillion dollars. If you paid 5 million dollars a day, remember I said 5 million dollars a day, towards our national debt? It would take 20,273.97 YEARS to pay off our National Debt! I know… Impossible but I digress…
The point here is that Ai can do multiple upon multiple operations in picoseconds! You DO NOT need to know all that math! You would be a bit closed minded, like I was, if you can not comprehend how to use that technology to benefit you and yours. Let it benefit us instead of allow them to use that technology against us!
So What’s Next? What Do You Need To Do Now?
The very first thing is to learn more about computer security. You should learn to clear your browser cache often! I mean once a week, every two weeks at the most. Clear your browser cache on your smart phone too! Remember! Your smart phone is FAR less secure than your home computer system! 85% of all internet traffic is now created on mobile devices!
Make three very strong passwords THAT YOU CAN REMEMBER IN YOUR BRAIN! Your brain can’t be duplicated (yet)… Finger prints? Control your finger then they’re in. Face Recognition? Drug you and control your face they’re in!
Then if you have all of your passwords stored for you on your computer? ‘Cuz you can’t remember them? They have access to everything else too! Because you gave it to them! I personally, physically type in every password I’ve got, because they can not control my brain. (yet) Remember all the phone numbers we stored in our brains back in the day? Our Social Security number? If you can remember those you can remember three passwords!
So one password is really strong and you save it for banking and things like that. Another less strong, but still pretty good. I use this one for my computer servers and things like that. If someone gets into the backend of one of my servers and buries kiddie porn in my computer files that they can access, but I can’t see? I’m still guilty as far as the FBI is concerned.
The last password? This one is less complicated but still at least eight character’s with caps, numbers, and punctuation or other keys in it. I use that one for everything else. An example of an easy to remember but very strong password…”YesICan2025$!” Don’t use this one because this is the internet after all…But it’s over 8 characters, has caps and smalls, and uses other keys.
The possible permutation of 8 characters amongst 95 different keys and numbers on a key board is 4,500,000,000,000,000,000. That number is 4.5 quadrillion. The password above has 13 total characters and the possible combinations of that is 2,597,945,860,119,776,256,000! That number is read 2.597 sextillion. You can see that is a pretty easy password to remember, and a pretty difficult one to decipher.
So? Use your imagination my friends! Come up with one of your own! If you have kids? (or grandkids) Get them their own gaming systems and teach them early about internet security and guarding information. Do not let them use YOUR computer! Hackers target kids and their lack of knowledge.
A safe word !… this is important for family security. Create a family safe word that can identify your family member immediately. Yes they can clone their voice!
Almost daily now, I get multiple scam texts on my phone. Emails too. Block everyone of them. Somehow some way we need to get congress to act on the issue, or they will continue to grow.
I am not telling you these things to frighten you! I’m telling you these things to enlighten you!
Then Work On Mastering Ai
Take it slow. This can be overwhelming. It changes rapidly. Remember Ai has ben around since the 1950’s… unless you were in advanced computer fields, you have zero backend knowledge on the topic. There are many models being created daily with Ai, so fast paced change is the name of the game.
Remember! You are NOT trying to be a 25 year old tech wizard vying for some new highly sought after position. You are learning Ai to both protect yourself and make YOU an even stronger, more powerful YOU! Chat GPT is a place to start, but don’t just learn prompting and data creation, go further.
Most of all… Remember this! We did not learn everything the day we were born. Perhaps in the future there will be womb embedded learning, however I do not think that’ll ever be possible. We took many years to learn all that we have learned, and we’re still on it. So use your current knowledge to build what you’d like to try, and go from there.
The important thing is to start. If you don’t start, the train will keep steaming away from you! Take on a little at a time and let your curiosity lead you down the path. The important thing is this… Ai is NOT going away.
My Photographer Of The Month…
Is nobody this month! I asked two Photographers I respect to send me some images and a bio so that I could feature them on my blog. They both did not have anything prepared. Now I do not understand this personally.
“Some of us wish to be lost, but most of us simply wish to be found” ~Derek Hough
This quote highlights the human struggle between solitude and the desire for connection. It suggests that while some people may fantasize about disappearing when overwhelmed, the deeper, true desire is to be seen and understood by others.
Especially Photographers! Over 350,000,000 Photographs are uploaded to FaceBook every day! Yes, that’s million with a capital M! Most of those uploads are looking for likes… the pat on the back. Yes! You are a good Photographer! Even with your iPhone!
In my humble opinion, every Photographer serious about their work, should have a least twenty of their best images ready to showcase their vision! A slide show too! Now I might not have the largest blog audience in the world, but it’s considerable. Why be shy to showcase your talents? Or in this case, maybe not be prepared?
So!… all of you out there… get ‘er done! Have a selection of your top twenty or thirty images set aside in formats for sharing. Maybe build a slide show. In my case I did that for the featured Photographers I have showcased, and I gladly gave that slide show to all who asked.
Ya just never know who might like to feature your work!
Now it’s time to go for a walk through the woods in the rain… can you feel that? Can you smell the fresh, damp air? Can you hear the rain drops on the hood of your parka? Don’t ya wish you were walking with me?
