Table of Contents
Introduction
Odesza at The Greek Theater in Berkeley
AI Tinkerers in Palo Alto
On Developing a Sense of What is Good Work
Accelerate Learning Hackathon
Conclusion
Introduction
This is a space for weekly public journaling, for exploring topics, ideas and events that are top of mind for this week. I am passionate about building AI applications to push humanity forward.
Odesza at The Greek Theater in Berkeley
When I first discovered Odesza around 2016 I was really amazed that this music exists. I was filled with hope and optimism about the future since then, because this true and pure human music existed. Since then they have been my favorite music and I was very surprised and lucky to be able to go see them in this beautiful setting of the Berkley University Greek Theater venue on Thursday June 13, 2024.
Towards the end of the set, on the big screen on the stage there appeared an animation of the human hand, thin, rising up against the backdrop of a dark sky. They hand was this symbol of human ingenuity, of us as creators, as tool makers, as inventors. The hand and the brain working together is what makes humans unique among the animal kingdom. Next appears an animation of a person walking through a blizzard in a very ancient looking landscape. This touched a deep part of humanity, a core part of what we are about. To see this live in the modern age, to see this sense being expressed and honored and presented in a work of art gave me hope for the future because I saw that this was art that reached to the core of what humanity is all about. We as humanity can renew ourselves. We can reinstate our conception of ourselves in the universe. We can still overcome the destructive effects of technology and we can be still flourish in the new technological landscape.
This sense of the art, this sense of feeling what is really worth living for, desire to create, to push humanity forward. To sense that this is alive and well is what lights me up. This sense is cultivated and nourished here in the Bay Area. It is about the tall redwood trees that are here. It is connected to the mountains and the sea here. It is felt in the climate, in the plants and flowers. It is felt in the spirit of the history here. I felt it when I walked through Berkley campus, when I walked through Palo Alto, when I walked through the Embarcadero in San Francisco. This is the magic that makes me want to stay here, to put up with all of the difficulties that are real here. This is the reason why I kept returning here.
When I came here to attend hackathons I would go to the Computer History Museum and feel like I was at home. I felt that this is the place for me. This area is where I want to live. I want to be around the people that are creating with technology. There is a danger of forgetting this. Indeed I had at times lost track of this sense in the last 8 months or so that I’ve lived here. Many times I asked myself why stay here when I can live abroad, going on adventures, traveling new countries, meeting with people that are from diverse backgrounds.
To be able to articulate what it is that attracts me here is really valuable. Then I can really better be able to make decisions, to build my convictions and future life on unshakable foundations. There is no other place that I know of in the world where humanity can be so pure and free. Free from concepts, from ideology, from authoritarianism, from fear. We are often talking about what we understand and what we see right now as the truth, only to later look back on how we thought and see that we have evolved from that and we have deepened our understanding and ability to express our beliefs.
I see that someone on YouTube published a recording of this concert, which is so precious. I was very sad that I didn’t bring my GoPro and record the set myself. Indeed this was probably one of the best moments to capture on video. Here is the video from another performance from this tour.
AI Tinkerers in Palo Alto
On Tuesday June 11th, I took the Caltrain to Palo Alto to demo my AI journaling startup “LuminaLog” at this meetup. This is a series of meetups that happens in many cities around the world. The ones in San Francisco are always packed so this one was a bit smaller and more intimate.
My demo went fairly well. It would have been better if I did less talking on the powerpoint slides and more going over the demo and the user flows of the app. I spent a lot of time talking about the intentions, the core mechanic and the philosophy of the app and why I was building it. The slides also had too much text on them. After the demo I got to chat with the other presenters and many of the attendees. I met some really interesting people this way as always.
On Developing a Sense of What is Good Work
Being an artist you develop a skill set that is more then just technical. You also develop a sensibility, a kindness to yourself, a gentleness and an ability to have a strong sense of what is beautiful, good and what is true in yourself and in the human spirit. This is an area that also can be studied and your understanding can be deepened here. It is very valuable and applicable to many areas of life, just as much as technical skills. I was very much impacted by ‘The Artists Way’ as guide.
I completed the exercises described in this book first in 2018. Since then it in fact does require multiple passes again. There are other books on the topic of creativity that are exceptional guides in our present era. This exploration and development of your spirit and creativity takes work at the same time it is very rewarding. It may take years before you start recognizing the results and benefits. It takes many passes and returns to the same place and the same exercises in order to grow in this area of being an artist, of creativity, of feeling like you are using your creativity well and that you are doing something that is valuable. The other books that are top of my mind on this topic is ‘The War of Art’ and ‘The Creative Act.’
Seeing Odesza this week and going to the ‘Accelerate Learning Hackathon’ at The AGI House in Twin Peaks has brought this idea of taking seriously your efforts cultivating your artistic and creative side, to the forefront of my mind.
Accelerate Learning Hackathon
I was really not going to attend this hackathon. In the morning on Saturday I felt that I needed to stay all day at my desk at the coworking space and work on my AI startup LuminaLog.com since I didn’t make as much progress as I intended to during the week. I did a morning voice journaling in the morning in the phone booth, as I did every day this week. This practice is really good for focusing your mind, for finding out what is your view on things. I often found myself going deeper into topics and coming up with conclusions that were different then what I had initially started with. Through journaling I came to the conclusion that I actually needed to go to the Hackathon on Saturday. I had this really attractive idea of building a website that took a book PDF and created mind maps and summaries of the content. I knew that I needed to commit and go to hackathons regularly and be part of the community and at the same time be committed to building a great hackathon project and presenting and demoing it with skill.
At the hackathon I was happy to be there among friends and people that were interested in building. I chatted with old friends and met some new people. I happened to start a conversation organically with an Australian startup founder, we bonded over both seeing Odesza and going to Burning Man. Over the hackathon we worked together and did a really good presentation. You can find it here:
At the end I chatted with other presenters and the vibe was really good. I learned a lot from the other people there. I made some new friends.
Conclusion
Here Is a photo of me sitting and writing this post at the SF Commons on Sunday. This week top of mind was thoughts about what is true art and how to make it. Inspired by the Odesza concert that made me remember what is really true and beautiful about the human spirit. About how to be an artist that really knows how to listen to their intuition, how they treat themselves and what they decide to create. These are important considerations about what is true love and self expression. It is something that is relevant for creative technologists like myself. You have to find your way as an artist, to be able recognize what is beautiful and what is true and good within yourself and be able to surface it to the world through your creations.I am doing this through the practice of going to hackathons and of creating a startup LuminaLog.com for self-development.
Here is one of my favorite songs from this week:
peace ✌️
Konrad