Dearest readers, I was Cleopatra in one of my past lives! Oh, and so were thousands of other people haha! Jokes aside, no matter how chill and carefree you are, you may have faced existential dread at one or multiple points in your life. What is the meaning of life? What happens after death? What cool stuff will I miss out on after I am gone? Is there afterlife or just the final dirt nap? Oh, and most important for this topic, does afterlife even really exist or are all of us immortal souls that keep coming back to life going for experiences. Is physical existence nothing but us being some sorta godlike Rick and Morty playing Roy- only as everything from an amoeba to a human to every alien imaginable. True, there are religions where reincarnation is as clear as day- Buddhism and Hinduism being the main ones. Then, there are people sharing eerily similar experiences from their DMT trips where they get all sorts of proof of the immortal soul and reincarnation being a complete and total fact. Not going to lie, I have listened to more than a few DMT trip reports on YouTube and find them fascinating; not to mention, they fill me with hope. However, I have yet to come across a conversation, such as a podcast, where people ask some really tough questions about reincarnation- people who truly want to believe it is legit. 

With that said, if you like the topic even a little bit, come share a few lightbulb moments with me. 

My first category of inquiry is regarding remembering past lives. You have so many people claiming they were Napoleon, Caesar or Alexander the Great- making the entire idea of reincarnation look like a joke which really sucks. However, what I find more problematic than that is that no one really talks about past lives as animals or plants. What is more, I have yet to hear someone remember a past life where they were a dinosaur or an alien being from a different planet. Seriously, what kind of cosmic joke would it be that some souls would always be reborn as humans and others as single cell organisms? Or, is there a reason why you as someone who is human cannot remember being a bacteria? Would it cause some sort of psychosis because it is such a radically different life form? Or, we have a memory of such past lives but cannot identify it because we cannot internalize what it is like to live as bacteria. 

My second category of inquiry is about the concept of the immortal soul that keeps reincarnating. If the entire existence reincarnates in cycles- including the entire universe- then why do we think that the immortal soul that keeps reincarnating is not just another higher level incarnation of something else? Why do we believe there are only two layers to this thing? Also, have you ever wondered why so many people think you tend to reincarnate quickly? If the immortal soul that reincarnates is legit, I like to think it does not count time the same way we do. Also, it may not feel any urgency to reincarnate too quickly like one incarnation after another. Maybe it just does one life and then waits until the entire universe reincarnates or something. Or, maybe it waits a few thousand years or just a few days. 

​My third category of inquiry is about the nature of good and evil assuming reincarnation is legit. It could mean that, while as humans we ideally should have a moral compass strive towards good, better and best for ourselves and those around us, the souls that reincarnate seem to be looking to create all life and experience every imaginable experience there is- from wealth and happiness and peace to murder, torture, abortion, birth defects, illness, pandemics, untold suffering... If so, will everything we as humans identify as bad and evil ever disappear through our work, effort and progress? Or, will life always be bad for someone? After all, every single thing you do is bad for someone or some thing out there. Is this by design far above the pay grade of us as a species? 

My fourth category of inquiry is what would happen if we ever got total and complete proof that reincarnation resists. Not even completely understand everything about it- just proof it is real. Would people be readier to end their own lives? Would people live less responsibly? Would good people become even better and bad people even worse? Would we be more reckless or would we cherish life and want to make it way better for everyone so everyone does better next time they reincarnate as humans? Would we live more in the moment or plan multi-generational projects? Would we burn the planet to the ground or would we plant trees, the shadow of which we would never live to enjoy? Finally, would this knowledge consume us to the point that life would become nothing more than a giant death cult until we decide we must bury this knowledge so we become free from it and live in blissful ignorance again? Powerful questions for sure. 

There it is, dearest readers- an inquiry as old as human philosophical thought. What are your thoughts on it? Do you have any interesting stories to share on the topic? Share if you like and I hope you have a good weak and a great weekend! :*



​

Dearest readers, a wellness and relaxation hiatus from my core work, as it turns out, means a delay but not a hiatus from writing. The last couple of days or so, I have been catching up with friends and, naturally, some of them are going through relationship changes, looking to do so well ahead of Valentine's Day. Some are looking to find someone on time for romance day, others are breaking up now because they know they cannot do it as cleanly around V-Day. The breakup crowd, however, is almost always more interesting; it has more drama, more twists and turns, and more fake news about each partner as after breakups we always make our former partners out to be worse than they really were in order to garner sympathy (dick move, but we all do it so there it is haha). Rambling aside, an interesting topic came up around long-term relationships that are essentially not working and reasons why people fall in the trap of staying in those relationships. Enter- the sunk cost fallacy. I think that for anyone looking for a long-term relationship, or looking to upgrade their current relationship to a long-term one, this is a very important topic to discuss. 

Here we go, so strap in (or on- haha). 

​According to Google/Dictionary/ChatGPT, the definition of sunk cost fallacy goes something like this: "the phenomenon whereby a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial." So, dearest readers, there it is- one of the most common logical fallacies most of us have made at least once in our lives. We did it with jobs, with friendships, with post-secondary education choices, and of course with relationships and so much more. No one likes to admit they were there (or are there right now), but hey that does not change facts of the matter. 

What are some examples of sunken cost fallacy playing itself out in real life relationships? Let us examine them. First, we have a scenario where you throw all of yourself- your energy time and money- into a relationship to the extent that is not sustainable for the long term. In this scenario, you overinvest of your own free will, and then get disappointed when you eventually had to scale back to a sustainable levels and your partner takes it bad and starts giving you the cold shoulder or looking for the door. You can stay in this limbo for a long time due to the sunk cost fallacy, saying well what the hell things have not turned out the way I hoped long-term but we have been together for a while and did x y or z together so let us continue, let us settle down in this limbo of ours for eternity (aka until one of us dies or something). God damn? Yep, pretty much. Another scenario is simply about love and sparks being totally gone, but we have been together for a while so meh. Yep, meh for the rest of your life, or you end up doomed to repeat the same cycle over and over again but with new people. Sure, most of us know that sparks are not as intense later on in a relationship as they are in the beginning, but this can be compensated through a forging of friendship, common goals, joint ambition, you two against the world type of thing. However, if you do not compensate, you are left in that same limbo fueled by the sunk cost fallacy. 

What do we do about it? When it comes to relationships, there seem to be only two good solutions based on two radically different relationship, umm, doctrines. One doctrine states that relationships, just like humans, make suffer cardiac arrest at one time or another and, when they do, you need to quickly utilize a defibrillator and administer mouth to mouth resuscitation (pun somewhat intended). Simply put, you believe that what is whole can be broken and then made whole again. The other doctrine states that every relationship ends and you are to end it at the first sign of a possible sunk cost fallacy. Since you know that your relationship will end, you always function with your partner as two people with aligning and mutual self interest, always making sure that the inevitable end of your relationship will not leave you worse for wear. You each focus on your own thing, you do not learn to rely too much on each other, you remain capable strong and self-reliant. So, at the first sign of that limbo, that dreaded sunk cost fallacy rearing its ugly head, you sit down have the talk shake hands and part ways. You deal with the mandatory withdrawal symptoms until you feel better, then finally move on.

Which doctrine is better? Are either of them good? I do not know and even if I did know, I would say nothing and leave it up to you to decide for yourself. However, one thing is for sure- doing the average/typical thing gives you average/typical results. You need to do something different if you do not want to end up living a chunk (or chunks) of your life here on Earth under the spell of the sunk cost fallacy, going through the motions while feeling indifferent, detached, defeated or worst of all contemptuous of your situation and everyone and everything around you. Food for thought, dearest readers. Food for thought.   

Dearest readers, lately I have been chain watching Peter Zeihan's content and, while some things he talks about go over my head (blame my mild ADHD and a busy life haha), this geopolitical genius of the "Guns, Germs and Steel" generation has tons of evidence for a completely different set of predictions about the next 5-30 years or so for the entire world. He talks about the inevitable breakdown of globalism, a return to the early 1900's style of power blocks, and most importantly to my topic today he talks about the population size collapse already under way in many parts of the world. Dearest readers, if he is right, this is bad. Sure, there are a few countries around the world that have large populations due to the ideal climate for it and a few more key factors, but for the most part the world as we know it, global economics, food production and more- all of these depend on population growth, on young people replacing old people and so on. So, if we live in countries that are experiencing a population bust- and chances are that if you are reading this you live in one such country at least part-time - we are in trouble. Why, though? If so many people want to call these countries we live in their new forever home, then how come we are not creating enough new life locally? I thought about it, I talked to people about it (people who know this stuff from school and in their career fields), and I have come up with a term, a noun that may catch on. Today, let us talk about Inster. 

What is Inster? Inster would be the abbreviation for involuntarily sterilized. The first thing that comes to mind are involuntary, state-sanctioned forced sterilizations of people that many current and past countries around the world have done at one time or another. This is something that most of us good, moral people would agree is a bad, bad thing in 99-100 percent of cases. An Inster, however, would not be an individual who is a victim of any such government program. Instead, I would define a person like that as someone who is sexually active, but has to use protection all the time as they are put in a situation where they cannot have children, therefore being sterilized by circumstances.

What does being sterilized by circumstances mean? It can mean many different things, depending on what the circumstances are. For the sake of my definition, I would say that an Inster is sterilized by circumstances outside of their control. Some things you could list here are debilitating costs of living in a given area, dating culture, internal system of values and life objectives... The point is, a country can be more or less set up for population growth. While this may vary from one region to another, if on average the country is set up to sterilize most of its child bearing population in a circumstantial way, or you could almost say a systemic way, before you know it you will run out of new jobs, new buildings, innovation, investment funds and eventually a country's sovereignty comes into jeopardy. At the very least, you could end up with a breakup of territorial integrity down to the city state level. 

The final and most important component of my definition of Inster is that an Inster wants to have children and is likely suffering, to a greater or lesser degree, because they are involuntarily sterilized and therefore prevented from becoming biological parents. That is also the most tragic part of it all. 

How are governments of mostly modern countries dealing with this Inster phenomenon? How are the cultures of these countries dealing with it? How are we dealing with it? This, ladies and gentlemen, is the greatest shit show of them all. Everyone is dealing with this in the shittiest way possible by using the oldest trick in the book- scapegoating! The scapegoats of this entire situation are LGBTQ groups, MGTOW, Red Pill people, OnlyFans Models- basically everyone who does not satisfy the definition of Inster. We are talking about people who are in groups that either choose not to have children or they do not prioritize it. That should be fine. People should have the freedom to check out from their group's reproductive cycle. Yet, dearest readers, the powers that be love to scapegoat groups like these as the reasons why the population is collapsing. The right way to go would be to focus on improving the circumstances of people who crave having babies, people who cannot to be parents, people who feel they want to do it with their whole body and soul. Oh, but that takes time, money and may even cost you some votes at election time. So, it just becomes easier to scapegoat and kick the can down the road until things get so bad we end up thrust into some weird dystopian scenario of a futuristic fertility cult or something. 

As my closing point, dearest readers, I will tell you one thing. Think about what people need in order to have kids. It all boils down to one thing- sufficient excess means/wealth after basic needs are met. Any policy, any country-wide long-term project that makes this happen will be good for everyone- those who want children as well as those who do not. Therefore, no matter where each of us stands on this issue, I really do believe we should work on it as a society, if for no other reason than due to mutual self-interest. 

Have a great weekend everyone! :)

Dearest readers, have you ever watched a video clip online you wanted to like, favorite or save and now you regret you did not? Of course you have, as have I. So, a while ago I saw a TikTok clip from a travel vlog in what I believe was Afghanistan where the travelers stopped at a smaller town and tried to talk to a local girl who seemed to be around 10-12 years old. She reacted to them, then took a step back, smiled at them and ran away. She did not know who they were, she did not understand their language (English), and they were adults therefore bigger and stronger than her. She was taught well not to talk to strangers, and she was taught that for two reasons. One, they could do something bad to her outright. Two, they could try to communicate with her and convince her to say, do or believe something she normally would not​. This second one, dearest readers, is a great topic for us in Western societies, especially chill trusting places like Canada. We really have to talk about this.

Canada, as many other Western countries, is a high trust society. A basic definition of a high trust society is as follows: High-trust societies display a high degree of mutual trust not imposed by outside "contractual, legal or hierarchical regulation", but instead are based upon "prior moral consensus". So, one way to interpret this is to say you believe people will do the right thing based on moral principles the entire country shares, not just because there is a law out there that will punish them if they do otherwise. You could also say that members of a high trust society believe that we generally want to engage in talks, actions and work for mutual benefit and that we do not want to achieve our own goals by directly harming someone else in a premeditated way.

Nevertheless, people still harm each other even in high trust societies- some would say especially in high trust societies. However, we can ask what a definition of harm is, and include manipulation in there too. Because well, in first world societies, manipulation is the white glove approach to harming people for your own gain and we see it way too often. Phishing, CRA scams in Canada, computer virus tech support pay us with Google Play Store gift cards type of scam all over North America, courses that overpromise and underdeliver... the list goes on. Basically, the way I see it (and I am not the only one), the higher the society's trust level, the less force and physical harm has to be used by those who want to get something out of you in a bad, harmful way. Nevertheless, they still try.

Why does all of this matter? Well, dearest readers, it matters because, should we enter an economic downturn, the number of people who will try stuff will increase exponentially. As they compete for their "market share", they will become more sophisticated about it. This is where my TikTok clip story from the beginning comes into play. That little girl knew she could be physically and/or mentally manipulated. She was taught that, she humbly accepted it. She has no hubris, no ballooning self-confidence to think that everything she accepts from others is legit simply because she accepted it, that no one manipulated or tricked her. So, she refuses all communication and interaction once she spots a possible setup and she does not second guess herself. Frankly, we need more of that today. Many times, we need too politely yet firmly extricate ourselves from situations. Freedom of discourse? How about freedom from discourse. Freedom of speech? How about freedom from speech. 

I will give you an example that many people who lived in places like Eastern Europe often talk about. In many Eastern European countries, you cannot just approach girls in the street and hit it off (regardless of what some casting couch companies would have you believe haha). You need to find someone to make an introduction, a chain of relatives or friends or acquaintances to connect you with that person. Otherwise, you are pretty much a creep and you could get kneed in the nuts, pepper sprayed or curb stomped by tall burly concerned citizens who watch out for their country's women. 

Now, personally I prefer something in the middle. I like the whimsy of chance encounters, new things, new experiences, new ways of thinking and looking at the world, but at the same time I do also like the ability to give a firm no to something, put my hand up as a stop sign, or give neither give nor accept opinions on topics of my own choosing. I also think that a society as a whole should not push you to the extreme of one or the other, of low trust or high trust. Either way, you end up with chaos in the streets. By that logic, if we deem ourselves a high trust society, that is not a good thing- not a good thing at all. An analogy of an email inbox with no spam or junk mail folders and filters comes to mind. We simply cannot have that.

What is the solution then? A hardcore swing in the opposite direction is not the solution, as we have already established that both a low trust and a high trust society would result in chaos in the streets. Instead, I like to rely on Game Theory as a practical guide. Originally devised last century in the 40's and applied to economics, it demonstrated that "economics is much like a game, wherein players anticipate each other’s moves, and therefore requires a new kind of mathematics". It is about looking at all scenarios where the choices of competing participants interact to affect the outcome. In every case, each participant's identity, preference and available strategies are clearly defined, and then you calculate possible outcomes based on that. If you fail to understand enough about a participant's identity, preferences and available strategies, your speculation on what will happen when they interact with you or other people is flawed at best. So, it comes down to knowing what to look for, and the quality of information you have versus quantity. It comes down to focusing a lot on a smaller number of people. It comes down to knowing what to know about yourself, and knowing what to look for in others.

One outcome of this, dearest readers, is that you may just stop looking for an apple in a basket of oranges. Or, you may pick an orange that is apple enough for you, because both oranges and apples are sweet and sweet is what you want. Or, you may decide you never wanted apples or oranges in the first place and will not accept either under any circumstance. 

Dearest readers, what are your 2023 goals? 2022, and definitely a few years before it, has been crazy to say the least. So, no matter who you are, no matter how well you navigated all aspects of your life the last few years, you feel the need you have to do better in 2023; I am right there with you. So, the number one goal for all of us, for 2023, is to avoid living in a perpetual present. Stick with me, this is a good one.

The idea of perpetual present has been popularized in Orwell's 1984- one of the most nuanced cautionary tales I ever got exposed to in my life. According to the book's setting, the ruling party determines what the present ought to look like; the past is non-existent, and the future does not exist either. Interesting, unsettling and downright scary if you ask me. Now, dearest readers, let me tell you how I think this connects to our everyday lives going into 2023. No, I do not think that we have a ruling Party keeping us in the state of perpetual present designed by them down to the smallest of details, like the Party in 1984. What I do believe is that the 24 hour news cycle, YouTube and social media platforms, as awesome as they can be, have done two things. One, they fill our free time so much in the present that we may not have enough time, energy or brain power to reflect on the past or plan our future. 

Let me give you some examples. Platforms like YouTube, and especially YouTube, are designed to take you down algorithmic rabbit holes. So, let us say that, for example, you have a past of being overweight and, at present, you go on YouTube and watch a bunch of diet and workout videos to put something together for yourself. The way the algorithms work is, as soon as you attach disproportionately to a particular topic, they send you so much more of it because, if you hyperfocus on it, the platform can serve you related ads and you are more likely to buy something off of them. However, for you as a human being looking for solutions to a particular problem that has haunted you in the past, this can be completely debilitating. You get stuck in that rabbit hole perpetually researching, perpetually planning, always looking for a better mouse trap so to speak. After a while, you are an expert in that topic, you can teach others so much about it, but you have little to no practice doing it. You forget why you wanted to go down that road in the past, what you want to achieve in the future, and it all becomes about the present and the just one more video sorta thing. 

I see this problem everywhere. Just one more day of research, just one more course, just one more certificate. Dearest readers, I think that becoming trapped in this would make us go nowhere fast in 2023. It is great for content creators, no doubt about it. However, it is bad for us who are stuck in the perpetual present of passively consuming it without ever fully realizing what is happening. 

What is the solution? The solution, I think, is to pay attention to the concept of consumer creator ratio. To my understanding, it is the ratio between how much you consume versus how much you create. Originally, the sources I read said that hey, if you watch lots of YouTube videos, you would do well to create a channel and make some videos about the stuff you know or stuff you like or both. That way, you get closer to balancing the ratio between the two sides and  you have a chance to become popular and have real world returns on the time you invest this way. Now, the problem I have with this is that if the only way you balance out content consumption is with content creation, you are oversaturating that market and may get nothing at all out of it. Instead, I believe it is smarter to spend some time consuming this content but always have a basis for it in the problems and concerns from your past that you would like to resolve. Then, you spend way more time time implementing your newfound knowledge, always having on your mind what you want to get from it in the future. You resist the urge to just sit there and consume, to be stuck in that perpetual state. 

So yes, I do think that Orwell's warning of a perpetual or endless present is a real thing, I do think it is making our problems accumulated from the last few difficult years much worse, but I do not believe that is is a person, a group or a political party doing it to us. I think it is technology that is doing it, and will continue to do it until we learn to wield it, instead of it wielding us. After all, it is not about what a technology does, but about what it does directly for us as individuals. 

Dearest readers, I swear I am not using ChatGPT and hype surrounding it as a shortcut for good blog topics. Nevertheless, I have been playing with it more and have looked at trends and discussions about it on TikTok, YouTube and I also talked to friends from various walks of life who are also interested in this technology. Some of them have also already used solutions like Jasper AI and Midjourney to generate art and content. It is becoming incredibly, abundantly clear to me why ChatGPT was made available to everyone. First, it is the next stage of training for that AI, and we are doing the work for free; the creators did not have to hire people to test it and provide valuable feedback so that is more money in their pockets. Next, they are extending us a helping hand. You see, many people around the world- myself included- have realized that tools like this one (and it is only that- a tool and nothing else come on let us be real) are only as good as the commands you give it. People first start using it as if they are children- I did the same thing. We asked it simple questions, tried to trick it, played with it, tried to bypass its limitations on profanity, bullying and worse haha. But then, we realize that we can give it a series of very, very complex commands and, the more descriptive, accurate and clear we get, the more mind blowing the results get. So, if tools like these become a part of many everyday workplaces in the near future, our ability to communicate with it and get it to do complex things will be one of the most important abilities to excel at our work. Well, now we get a chance to practice as much as we want or can and I have to thank OpenAI for that. This, dearest readers, is the reason I am revisiting this topic and taking it to the next level. 

The examples below are things I came up with by myself- no copy and paste from other people.

In Example 1, I took stats for a man, 6ft tall weighing 220lbs, and asked ChatGPT to come up with a weekly workout plan for the person to lose 500 calories per day. Here is what I got:

Monday:

• 30 minutes of brisk walking or jogging
• 30 minutes of resistance training (bodyweight exercises, weightlifting, or using resistance bands)

Tuesday:

• 30 minutes of cycling or spinning
• 30 minutes of yoga or Pilates

Wednesday:

• 30 minutes of swimming or water aerobics
• 30 minutes of high-intensity interval training (HIIT)

Thursday:

• 30 minutes of rowing or using a rowing machine
• 30 minutes of stretching and foam rolling

Friday:

• 30 minutes of hiking or trail walking
• 30 minutes of strength training (using weights or resistance bands)

Saturday:

• 30 minutes of kickboxing or other martial arts
• 30 minutes of dance or Zumba

Sunday:

• Rest day or active recovery (e.g. gentle yoga, walking, or stretching)

So, aside from dance or Zumba, this is not half bad. Will it cause an exact 500 calorie deficit? No, I am sure it will be approximate because these things are never exact. Still, good enough. Also, it is pretty cool that Sunday is a rest day, but one with yoga, stretching or what I assume to be light/slow walks. Many other people who put these together would tell you that it is just a rest day and that is it.

In Example 2, I asked ChatGPT to give me a recipe for two people that belongs to Moroccan cuisine and features chicken, sweet potatoes and rice. Also, it had to be under 1000 calories per person. So, I defined cuisine type, key ingredients, number of people eating the meal and calorie count per person. That is fairly complex and could go even more complex than that. Here is what I got:

Sure! Here's a Moroccan chicken and sweet potato recipe that serves two people and is under 1000 calories per person:
Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1-inch cubes
• 1 cup long grain white rice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Instructions:

1. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until browned on both sides, about 4 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside.
2. In the same skillet, add the sweet potato and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove the sweet potato from the skillet and set aside.
3. In a medium saucepan, bring the chicken broth and water to a boil. Add the rice and cook for 18-20 minutes, or until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender.
4. In the same skillet, add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the ground cumin, cinnamon, ginger, and turmeric and cook for 1 minute.
5. Add the cooked chicken, sweet potato, cooked rice, raisins, and parsley to the skillet and stir to combine. Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, or until the chicken is heated through.
6. Serve the Moroccan chicken and sweet potato mixture on a plate and enjoy!

Not bad at all. I love Moroccan cuisine because it has tons of different spices and does sweet and savory extremely well through the use of ingredients such as cinnamon and dried fruit. Good stuff overall, I actually tried this one and it is excellent to say the least.

In Example 3, I did something you might want to do with YouTube videos. I am sure many of you know about the Transcript feature on YouTube where you can see the transcript of many videos you typically watch or listen to every day. You tap the three button menu, tap on Transcript, and there it is. Pretty cool right? Initially, I toggled the time stamps off, copied some transcripts into ChatGPT one by one, asking it each time to summarize the text. It did a great job and the summaries were short and accurate. Also, a time saver if you do not have the time or energy to actually listen to it but do not want to miss it. Then, I took it a bit further by asking ChatGPT to summarize the text in five key points. The video I used was Patrick Boyle's "Where Have All The Stocks Gone?" available here. Patrick Boyle is an excellent, fair and educated source on topics such as this one- no doubt about it. Here is the five point summary.

1. Over the past twenty years, the number of companies listed on the US stock market has almost halved.
2. Institutional investors have been moving into private markets such as venture capital, private equity, and private debt.
3. The size of the private capital industry has reached $7.4tn, fifteen times the size it was in 2000 and is expected to reach $13tn in the next four years.
4. Share buybacks and historically low interest rates have contributed to the decline in the number of public companies.
5. Government actions in the 1990s made it easier for private backers to raise capital, leading to a change in the going-public versus staying-private trade-off.

Not bad. You could turn this into an article if you wanted, or use it as talking points in the right crowd. Now, I wonder if this will affect YouTube Creators' viewership stats if too many people start doing this...

In Example 4, I asked ChatGPT to pretend to be a retail customer. Then, I asked it to tell me how I could convince it to buy a memory foam pillow. This was its first response:
As a customer, I might be convinced to buy a memory foam pillow if you could explain to me the benefits of this type of pillow. Some potential selling points could include:

• Memory foam is designed to contour to the shape of your head and neck, providing support and reducing pressure points. This can help to improve spinal alignment and alleviate discomfort or pain.
• Memory foam is also known for its ability to reduce motion transfer. This means that if you sleep with a partner, you are less likely to be disturbed by their movements during the night.
• Memory foam pillows are durable and long-lasting, so you can expect to get a good amount of use out of them.
• Memory foam is also hypoallergenic and resistant to dust mites, making it a good choice for people with allergies or sensitivities.
• Finally, a memory foam pillow can help to regulate your body temperature, keeping you cool and comfortable throughout the night.

By highlighting these benefits, you may be able to convince me that a memory foam pillow is a worthwhile investment.

Not bad, except that the motion transfer point is moot because we are talking about a memory foam pillow, not a memory foam mattress. Everything else is really decent. This entire feature where you can ask it to pretend to be some one or some thing and then respond in that way is very, very useful. Imagine the ways in which you could use this. 
In Example 5, and this could be great for job seekers, I used a job ad from Indeed for a Brand Marketing Analyst position near Toronto for testing purposes. I cleaned the ad wording up a bit and then had ChatGPT do its magic. Here is what it came up with:

Dear Hiring Manager,
I am writing to apply for the position of Marketing Administrator at Tree of Life Canada. As a university or college graduate with a degree in business or marketing, as well as a minimum of three years' experience in a Marketing Administration role, I believe I am well-qualified for this position.
In my current role, I utilize internal systems and work with the sales team to track points of distribution, sales, and margin for specific brands. I have strong analytical skills and am proficient in MS Office, including Excel and PowerPoint. I also have experience with AS400, COGNOS, and Power BI, which would be beneficial in this role.
I am a proactive, results-driven individual with superior project management skills and the ability to work on multiple projects with strict deadlines and minimal supervision. I am also organized, resourceful, and able to work well under pressure. My communication skills are excellent, and I am fluent in English.
I am excited about the opportunity to join the team at Tree of Life Canada and support the marketing department in analytical and administrative areas. I am confident that my skills and experience make me well-suited for this role, and I am eager to contribute to the success of the company.
Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to discussing this opportunity further and how I can contribute to the success of Tree of Life Canada.
Sincerely, [Your Name]
Overall, job well done. I would always read it and edit a bit before sending it with my resume and also make sure that the cover letter matches well enough the resume I already have. Also, even before all that, I would ask it to give me 1-3 different cover letters and choose the best one or mix and match. This way, you save tons of time AND you actually send a cover letter than matches the job ad extremely well. Personally, I would advise against using this to make a resume unless you tell it exact details to put in there that are actually true. What you can do is ask it for sample resumes for different jobs, add some details, and then just use the examples to make your own resume better. 

Overall, I love ChatGPT and honestly it is amazing to see how our collective knowledge of how to use it is growing. Now we just have to get used to wielding it in clever yet efficient ways and in all aspects of our lives to the same extent we use many of our other tools. 

Have you tried it yet? Got anything cool to share about how you used ChatGPT? Share if you like and have a great week mwah!

Dearest readers, Internet is buzzing a lot lately with discussions about ChatGPT, an OpenAI project that is really, really cool. Honestly, I messed with chat bots before, but this experimental AI platform is pretty, pretty good- better than anything else so far available to us mere mortals. A Google news search will give you more details about this project and what people got up to with it so far. Additionally, you can create a free OpenAI account and use it to log into ChatGPT for your own personal use- and amusement. Here are screenshots of some things I asked it and what I thought about it.

So like I said, pretty good so far- and limited just as us humans can be. I am sure many of you dearest readers of mine have even better ideas what to ask it or how to use it- I know I will continue to play with it and push its limits. Maybe have it generate 100 different movie ideas starring Adam Sandler? ;) Give it a try and, if you want, share your exploits with the rest of the class mwah! :)

Dearest readers, welcome to a rather interesting and spicy topic today. I do not know how many of us have memorable, deep or mind blowing conversations these days. Sure, many of us listen to podcasts daily and hear lots of truly amazing things that way. But, when was the last time you got that from a conversation? Oh, and it cannot be a work-related conversation haha. Luckily, in my line of work, I get to hear lots of interesting and amazing things not related to my work and that makes me truly happy and energized. However, now and then my relatives, friends and acquaintances come up with some truly memorable topics as well. The one that makes my year, hands down, is the one I had with a friend (private life friend, not through work haha) who works as a Data Analyst but also happens to read a lot and think a lot about life. To all of my esteemed gentlemen readers out there, this is going to be a good one and then some. 

Read on and enjoy. 

I love that it has been a while that I can meet with people for coffee (and cake) in person again with far less fear and stigma in this Brave New World of ours (on the nose pun intended). So here I am, sitting with my friend, let us call him X (he is not my X though haha), and we get to talk about dating. He takes jabs at me for not dating, and I take jabs at him for being a serial dater and really swing trading rather than investing in the dating world. He laughs at the analogy and says hey, at least I am old school dating one girl at a time so that's something. But then, he told me he is going to share with me something he has not shared with many people before, and of course it has to do with dating, and especially dating girls- as he put it. 

He asked me, if I were dating, what I would do if I suspected my partner was cheating on me. I said that I would look for evidence, maybe ask to see his phone, see how he is interacting with his phone while we are relaxing together but doing separate stuff... I would also look at changes in behavior, any physical signs of cheating etc. He remarked that yes, wow, it is like I went through a cliche chick article checklist from Cosmo. Then, analytical as he is, he asked me to repeat why I would do all this stuff, why I would look for evidence. I said I would look for evidence because I am suspicious. Then, he asked me why I would become suspicious in the first place. I answered that there would have to be patterns of behavior going on for a while and increasing in intensity that would arouse suspicion in me. He said ok, my turn.

He said that the chain of events from suspicious behaviors of your partner to you having the suspicion, then looking for evidence, then confronting your partner if evidence is found, then going through the drama and craziness and then braking up or try to work it out (which he called infinitely worse) is something we got from mainstream movies, TV shows, Judge Judy and, well, our legal system. He then said that, unlike all of that, in his world there are no judges, no judicial systems, no trials, none of that bullshit. He does not have to operate like that, and he does not need proof. Why would he need it, he said. What would possess him to mimic something so unnecessary in his personal. private life. if someone carries on, for an amount of time he deems long enough on relationship by relationship basis, carries on suspicious behavior indicative of already cheating, thinking of cheating, or acting as if they are cheating even though they are not, he breaks it off. It is done, and it is as simple as that. No drama, no anger, no wallowing in your own emotional refuse while looking for evidence. He concluded this by saying that the only way to hedge against the bad things in your future is to speculate often and get very good at it. The most powerful institutions in our world- banks, corporations, governments... they all do it and do it all the time. They do not wait for the evidence to materialize. Often times, bad things do not end up happening or they do not go from bad to worse precisely because they are preempted by action stemming from accurate speculation. 

Needless to say, my mind was blown and I was also taken aback emotionally. I understood the logic, the thought process and the method behind my friend's approach, but emotionally I found it hard to digest. I told him I get it, but it would feel really bad to be on the receiving end of that approach if you are falsely accused and I wanted to know how he would respond to that. My friend responded to it by asking me to think about why people do secretive, elusive and suspicious things in a relationship. if it is for the good of self and the good of the relationship, they would reveal their cards rather quickly by surprising you because they want those brownie points and they want the dopamine and oxytocin hits from seeing you pleasantly surprised and happy. When the behavior continues long enough and there is no grand finale, no big reveal, it is enough for a reasonable person who believes in relationships and growing closer to each other to conclude it is time to part ways as a cheating scenario is either imminent or in progress. 

I then said but maybe if and he stopped me, looking rather annoyed. He said maybe nothing. Imagine the bliss of being in a relationship where this is not happening. Imagine it, feel it like you were in one such amazing relationship right now, and tell me why you or I or anyone else should settle for less. Actually do not waste time telling me, as there is no answer worth wasting your breath on. I do not say touche that often, but I sure had to say it right then and there! 

So, maybe X is right. Maybe, just maybe, we should hold each other to a higher standard when we are dating. Also, maybe holding each other to a higher standard is a sign of respect- the thing replaced by contempt when a relationship sours to the point of no return. Maybe, when you act like this, you bring out the best in people and they love you for it. I do not know how many more people my friend will date, but I do know that once he finds that one person who will not make him speculate in the way that he does, he will truly find a companion for life. Maybe he is wrong, but the happiness radiating from him sure feels right. 

Dearest readers, you may have noticed by now that I have a unique mind. I like to talk to people, listen to podcasts, consume other content and then think about it alone, by myself, and then choose topics to put down on the digital page. Recently, I saw a new movie on Netflix called Where the Crawdads sing. Before you run away, gentlemen (because it is a chick flick of sorts and many of you run away when those come up haha), remember that I latch onto unusual topics and different angles from what you would expect, and that I would not bring this topic to you if I did not have an enticing idea to share. So, as it happens, out of all the different themes throughout the movie, I latched onto a theme most of the target demographic for this movie would not even notice- a theme that concerns us all in 2022 and beyond- housing! How? What? Why? Well, read on and you will find out :)

The movie begins with a family- mom, dad and a few kids- the youngest of which is Kya, our protagonist. They live in a house on a large property in North Carolina's coastal marshland. They could have had a happy life, except the father had some pretty bad PTSD from serving in WW2 and, having been taught to bottle it up, his mental state devolved into alcoholism, anger and domestic violence. The violence was so bad that his wife left him, and then all kids but Kya left one by one before they even hit 18! Rough times back then, though I am sure this happens today as well :( Kya spends some time with her dad and learns to live with him, he calms down for a while, but then a letter from his estranged wife makes him break down, he freaks out and eventually leaves. Kya, barely an adolescent, is left alone in the family home on her family land. Luckily, she is smart and has some skills to start fending for herself, selling crabs to a local store where the family who operates it looks in on her from time to time and hides the fact she lives alone from social services and the like. 

Now, you may ask what this has to do with Canada and USA- I guess- in 2022 and beyond. What did I latch onto early on in the movie? Well, this will blow your mind- I hope. Kya, barely an adolescent, has managed to live alone, make some money, and raise herself into a fine young lady because she had one thing most of us do not in 2022- A FREE/PAID OFF ROOF OVER HER HEAD!!! So I am sitting there, watching the damn movie, and I am like so wait, if you do not have to pay mortgage or rent, even an adolescent living by herself in 1960's North Carolina can potentially make it! Then, I look at what is goddamn happening in North America. Rising home prices; rising rents; Canadian municipalities near big cities with tons of land not allowing smaller houses to be built; ultimate despair and disbelief now, homelessness in old age as many people's RRSP/401K contributions are instead going into housing costs. So, with practically free housing, even a little girl can make it. With insane rents and mortgages, even adult well educated people end up struggling their entire lives. 

Now, I am not advocating for free housing or housing as a human right- I am obviously not qualified nor do I want to talk about the pros and cons of that. What I do want to talk about is how dangerous it is to put people's shelter under question- many people's shelter, in fact. I have people tell me interesting things. I have a friend who has been saying for years that she would rather have zero amenities in her condo building if it meant lower rent. I have people who live in the suburbs and say they would take a dilapidated old bungalow over their home if all they had to pay was home insurance, property tax and utilities. Tiktok, for all its faults, is (informatively) full of memes where people are saying how they thought they would have it all by the age of 30 and then they cry laugh at the thought. 

What I believe is the worst thing about this is the fact that it is making our society become too competitive. Is competition not a good thing? Is it not the fountain of progress and all these other good things? Well, not after a certain point. The more you are pushed to compete, the more you sharpen your skills. When skills are no longer enough, you sharpen your claws and you do everything and anything under the sun to make it happen, you push people behind you so they fall off a cliff that is constantly eroding behind all of our backs.

There are increasingly prominent voices out there that tell us the methods many of us are now choosing to stay ahead of the erosion are the result of our society's moral decline and so on. Onlyfans, sugar babies, crypto scams, stock pump and dumps, dropshipping pump and dumps, social media shills... some people say all of these things are signs of morally bankrupt times. I beg to differ. When the middle class starts shrinking, many people adopt the Moon or bust mentality, whereas previously they would have chosen the middle path. Who is responsible for keeping the middle path alive? Those in charge, I think. 

So tell me, what would you do if your rent or mortgage payment was 50 percent lower than what it is right now? Or, what would you do if you only had to pay home insurance, property tax and utilities?

Dearest readers, a few days ago I got an email from Walmart telling me that if I have a Walmart account, I can start Black Friday shopping online hours earlier than the rest. Seconds later, I saw that they had a 1080p smart TV, screen size around 43 inches, for a ridiculous price of $98! Sure, I could use a decent size tv at that price- 43 inches are the new 32 inches as far as TV screen sizes go haha. Imagine my disappointment, then, when I realized this was for US Walmart- not the Canadian one. So, I went to see what the Canadian retailers are offering during this abomination called the Black Friday month (next stop- Black Friday quarter, final destination Black Friday year haha). Our generous Canadian retailers, just as I suspected, are offering mind-blowing deals up to 50 percent off. Wow, let me bow down and meekly thank them for such an awesome discount! In all seriousness, I almost fell over anger-laughing. That is not a deal, that is not special- that is totally completely nothing. On top of that, Staples is running Black Friday ads on YouTube saying that the prices will not be lower on the actual Black Friday so might as well shop now. Sure, I get it- they are hurting bad. However, they also have more inventory coming to them via a fleet of container ships as we speak, and I do not see enough new warehouses around these parts. Now, dearest readers, seeing as how big retailers can easily restructure their debt compared to us ordinary people, I truly believe they should be having a fire sale here in Canada and elsewhere. Why are they not doing it? It is because they are keeping their fingers crossed we do not wake up to this one powerful fact. Let me get into it, follow along please, and you may truly enjoy what I am about to tell you. :)

In the investment world, they say the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent. This means that, if the market is going against your theory, you may want to cut your losses and get out before the market breaks you and you go broke. Well, in the consumer world, we have the power to stay out of stores longer than the stores can afford to be empty of shoppers! I started this topic with friends and acquaintances from different walks of life and income levels. We talked about how blessed we are that in this great country of ours, we were able to accumulate so much stuff compared to other places in the world. I have a guy friend who said if push comes to shove, he does not need a new suit, a new pair of jeans, or any new clothes save for socks underwear etc. for many years to come. The same goes with girls and their accessories, clothes and so on. I have friends who repaid laptops and desktops and they say that a brand new desktop in the thousand dollar range could last an average user 10 years if need be- maybe more. Other people still hang on to Android phones with replaceable  batteries and have spare batteries as well. People also have zero need for new small appliances for many years- again in the worst case scenario. Oh, and our LED lights are supposed to last many years as well. For gamers out there, there is a library of more free games than they would have time to play. Most of us could go years without a new TV. Tell me then, dearest readers- how will our retailers deal with a nation-wide paradigm shift towards retail frugality? It would not happen based on logic for many people- that is true. But, it would happen based on emotion, based on things like anger and most of all defiance. 

On top of that, people have already started to shift away from traditional shopping destinations. I know more and more people who are getting cozy shopping on Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji (in Canada), people who go to thrift stores for decorations and paintings and other stuff, even people who have at least considered bartering. it is truly amazing to see and, while I do not believe we can go without retailers forever, we can certainly do so longer than they can stay open. 

What about services? Yes, that is a good question. I think that the services and experiences industry is not in danger of taking as much of a hit. The way I see it, people always want to feel something somewhere outside of their usual 9-5 weekday routine and that will never change. People I talk to who migrated here from Southeastern and Eastern Europe tell me that their families always found money to go out for coffee, dine out and especially travel- even when they could not or would not shop for new stuff at retail stores. As it turns out, you can let go of shopping more easily then of living it up through new experiences. 

There we go, dearest readers- a topic to consider. How do you feel about retail spending this holiday season and over the next 6 months to a year?