Macro

I went for lunch with the kids and their parents yesterday after swim meet. The topic of current coach came up and the other three parents were like we have no idea why so many people have quit the club this year and the coach was apparently confused too. They being white parents, I gently quipped we were not happy with coach either and were glad that our kid moved to a different coach too. I slipped in gently that maybe if they watched the color of kids who were quitting it might be easier for them to understand what’s going on. To which the white parents looked at one another and then me and said we have no idea why would anyone dislike her! We never felt any bias towards our kids. Yep white people, you are all great folks and good friends of us (and they really are very very good people) but they just do not comprehend it. I was not gonna push it so I shrugged and we just changed the topic.

Everyone knows that we are a company that is high on writing docs. PRFAQs, 6 page narrative and the enchilada. Its a part of the culture that has kept this company different from other companies. With AI advances we are being asked to maximize using AI tools to help us in our writing and docs. So last Friday I used Claude to give me a research opportunity based on an area I am looking at, then I fed the research into my custom LLM model and it spit out a 6 page narrative in a eerily accurate fashion. I skimmed through the doc and I was like wow this is good enough to go ahead. Here’s the thing – I have NO fucking understanding of the the topic that I generated a 6 pager about. Absolutely NONE. But I can guarantee you I could pass of as author of this doc and I could speak to it at high level if asked. This is the problem with these AI tools – I KNOW at my age to do better. I fear the generation coming after us will have no fundamental understanding of the topic because they can’t think – and they’ll just use AI to do the thinking for them. Its kinda sad and scary where this is headed. Feels like in a decade or two, “critical thinkers” will actually be a job family with high salary because ppl can’t.

Real good comeback by England – they have rendered India’s huge first inning total meaningless. As shastri would say, this test match is poised and I actually think England could pull off an upset. Interesting next couple of sessions and days!

Anyway last long course meet of the season. Summer swim continues though. I really wish the kid had better genes and strength to compete against all the other kids. While I am proud she shows up daily and puts the grind but gosh I also feel that feeling of not being in top 10 even after putting so much effort. On the plus side she is happy with where she is so that counts majorly!

At swim meet this morning a mom (mom of kids BFF and a liberal) goes “I gotta get gas this morning. He attacked Iran and I am like shit price of gas will go up and I gotta fill the tank to save some bucks” and she bolted. This is the problem with Americans – they literally cannot think beyond their noses for most part. That’s why I find a lot of these protests hollow. Because I also know people like her – who are otherwise excellent people and have great families. It’s just that their conveniences take precedence over anything and everything and that’s why we have Trump.

This Rishabh Pant comeback is for the ages. What a 100. I honestly thought his cricketing career was over after his horrific accident and he seemed like he could barely walk. What a comeback from that kind of injury back to the team and then doing it in style.

Last night A dreamt that she was picked up by ICE and threatened at gun point. The constant news cycle messes up with brains allright. Most white people will never get the concept of psychological safety and what it does to people of color, so I don’t blame them if they look at others and think why can’t they be like me 😆

King cobra in neighbors backyard

I and my manager had a long conversation this morning where we both agreed that our mental health is basically shot at this point with all the things that are going at work and outside of work right now in the local area. As if the day to day political news doesn’t wreck us, things at work are largely no better either providing no mental safety of any kind. Every fucking day is a tornado!