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Mega City Projects Gone Wrong

AI image of a City

I came across a video on the mega city projects.

There’s a lot of ambitious talk about building crazy cities and all of them seem awesome on the surface, but a lot of them forget about human nature. Someone needs to revisit Hershey, Pennsylvania, which got its start as a private town for Milton Hershey’s employees.

It’s one of the few “private” towns that were successful. But what made it successful?
Economy makes everything work. This means some sort of production or export that can bring people in. For Hershey, PA, it was a factory and subsequently, a theme park.

Also, Hershey allowed the sale of houses. Ownership also helps to make people stick around. Also, allowing business to run in the town also helps a little too. This brings in more employment, and more people.

It is my (ever to be humble) opinion that a town has to grow organically and you need to start with some form of resource to mine or create. Then give the employees the option to buy their apartment. After that, they own the spot, they can sell it to whomever they want, or even rent it out.

Also, make sure there is a place that businesses can also purchase or lease, allowing for more employment.

And of course, you need a tourist attraction. Some of the mega projects are attractions in themselves, but a little affordable amusement park wouldn’t hurt.

Obviously, it’s not that simple, but it seems to be a good start. Who knows, maybe someone will figure it out and we’ll start seeing working cities of the future sooner than later.

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No Place like Utopia

Image of a Futuro house, once thought to be the house of the future.

 

Are we in a Utopia, or a Dystopia?

This is a great video on the perspective of what Utopia really is. The word itself means “Nowhere” suggesting how impossible it is to have such a place. Usually, one person’s utopia is another person’s dystopia.

If you were to ask anyone who benefited from the system, they would not have any problem with it. Usually these are the people who idealize the past. There are a lot of older Russians who idealize the USSR, not understanding why the people who escaped to the US have a very different view of that system.

There’s no such thing as a perfect system. When you are world building, keep in mind that if you have a form of “utopia” there’s always a downside for those who can’t fit in.

Image by Franck Barske from Pixabay

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Happy New Year To You!

Wedding Photo

Happy anniversary to me!

Yesterday marked 25 years, marriage in 1999. It wasn’t a big wedding, and it’s obvious I had a family member take pictures. It didn’t matter, we were in it for the long haul and now 25 years later, we are still going strong.

It’s a New Year, and I’m not making any promises or new year’s resolutions, but I hope to be posting more as part of my daily routine – even if it’s just a few lines.

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My Personal AI policy

Prompt: AI as a humanoid

I know some people are eager to throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to AI. And there are others who are just dying to see it take over the world (and maybe replace our incompetent politicians?)

I’m more about using AI as a tool, and I’ve used it several times for world-building. I haven’t used it for my book covers because it actually took longer to get an image just right than my current method.

Then I heard about the developers feeding the AI copyrighted images (bad move) and decided on a personal AI policy.

That was a month ago.

With all the work I had to do with my last short, I hadn’t had time to make one out and now that it’s published, here we are.

  1. No published work on Amazon will have any AI generated anything, unless you count ProWritingAid. This is where the lines get blurred, which is why I don’t understand the all-or-nothing stance against it. If you use a computer or use social media, you are using a form of passive AI that’s been around for ages. Doubly so if you use any form of a grammar editor (Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, Grammarly, ProWritingAid, etc). I can get more into that another day.
  2. If I use AI images for any blog post, it will either have a watermark or I will put the origin in the caption.
  3. If I use AI for text, it will be in a quote format attributed to the original site or a screenshot and the attribution in the image or the Caption
  4. If I use AI in social media, I will also say the origin in the post.

Like everything online, social norms will develop. That is until the fearmonger have their way.

prompt: A bunch of crabs in a pot pulling each other down
Via https://labs.openai.com/ (a.k.a. DALL-E)

How is it possible that we aren’t all still using horse and buggies?

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I screwed up

Elizabet instead of Elizabeth. Exactly how the Natisiens pronounce her name.

So I posted the hardcover, and I realized too late that I had somehow missed the “h” in Elizabeth. So the title is “Elizabet: Heritage Journey: A series Collection.”

Amazon won’t let me change it in KDP or Author Central. The only way I can change it is to unpublish it and try again.

After thinking if it’s worth the trouble, I realize that it might not necessarily be a bad thing. The Natisiens cannot pronounce the TH sound and I intentionally left it out in some of the Natisien’s dialogue.

Maybe that’s why I forgot to put it in. Yeah…. That’s it. That’s why.

See it here:
https://bit.ly/HerJouTra

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Busy. Maybe a little too Busy.

Woman on Laptop

The past few weeks have been crazy-busy, but what else is new? Since it was hot, I had to be out more often, making sure the chickens had water and stay cool.

And I’ve been organizing the kitchen more. It’s nice to not have to look for something to make myself a basic breakfast.

But as much as I haven’t been blogging, I haven’t been writing much, either. It’s partly a form of writer’s block, and life in general.

My husband’s schedule is changing, and it’s for the better, but it will take me a while before I develop a routine that works with it.

In the meantime, I have some drafts I started. I’ll be working on those, soon.

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Under Maintenance

MODx Backend

Not this site, but Zherosha.com is out for a day. It was late by the time I backed everything up and reinstalled the CMS. I need to sleep occasionally.

I should have it up and running sometime tomorrow.

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AI as a Tool

I write a fictional sci-fi story. The Aliens in this story use an energy source that involves Nuclear energy being infused into a crystal using "ingredient X." "Ingredient X" reacts to most radiation, either neutralizing it, or changing its properties to make it easy to infuse into quartz. The energy infused quartz, when powdered, can be manipulated with other types of energy, even made to change colors to produce images, etc. Explain the properties of "ingredient x" and how it works for the science fiction novel.

Yes, I used ChatGPT, this time to help with world building.

Zherosha is built around an energy source that’s created by using what the Inersiens call “stabilizer.” I wanted to see what chatGPT has to say about it, except I used “Ingredient X” instead.

(the chat: https://chat.openai.com/share/130667a6-669a-472d-83d5-5d520f3fc394)

While I still don’t think ChatGPT is a crappy writer, it’s not bad at helping foster ideas, which is what I’ve been using it for.

A few days ago, I needed to write a speech for the Provisional leader of the US in the new short story series. What kind of American speech it would be without mentioning the founding fathers?

Write a paragraph summary of the founding fathers of the US's vision

And I wrote this:

“I was never much for speeches, and I’m sure you’re all eager to go about your day, so I’ll make this short.” He said.  “The founding fathers had a vision based on the ideals of Enlightenment, brought on by a democratic system, and unhindered by a limited government. Unfortunately, their vision of the protection of natural rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness did not extend to women or certain classes of people. It was time to start fresh and become the America that was truly about equality and freedom.” A smattering of applause came from the room. “Regardless of how you handle your local government in this city, I ask that you consider voting for your representative. Each registered city or town can have one, and until the states settle their borders again.” Murmurs rose from the crowd. “Some former states want to change borders and…” He took a moment to look over the entire room. “It is possible that some states may not want to come back into the Union.” More harsh whispers continued until Ezekiel put up his hand. “I did say ‘may,’” he said. “The purpose of this trip is for me to educate my successor and share information, as well as persuade people to give the United States another chance.” Applause rose from the Auditorium. Ezekiel waited until it died down before continuing. “After your chairperson dismisses us, I would like to talk to the heads of the council.”

While I sort of understand why people are concerned about AI, but I believe if used properly, it can help do so much. Use it like a tool, like how we use robots for manufacturing, or cars instead of horses.

How many missed opportunities are due to fear?

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A quick change

I’ve had some trouble with the blog’s backend. So I had to change to an overly simple theme for now.

It’s frustrating, but after I publish “The Gathering” I’ll come back to this and fix it once and for all.