Reflections 19th November
The value of pain.
This has been a strange week, full of portents and signals that have the sense of the swirls of wind before rain, the tremors before a quake, or that moment of paralysis waiting for a sneeze to materialise. The fascination of watching a government in slow motion collapse, pretending all is well, or the tragedy in Gaza, and the overnight disappearance of Ukraine from the headlines as the media find alternative triggers all have an Alice in Wonderland quality.
The Mad Hatter prize, though, has to go to Chat GPT. On Friday, I was watching Sam Altman’s keynote at the developer conference with a mixture of fascination, awe and trepidation. If ever there was an individual who has tilted our world on its axis, it’s Sam. A few hours later, much to our surprise, and apparently his, he was toast. Both founders were defenestrated from a Board of six without notice and with a very opaque and coded statement as to why. It has provided powerful food for thought.
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