Kaizen

Brandon Blog

Thoughts on software, technology, and building things for the web.

Learning in the Age of AI

Learning in the Age of AI

We're in the middle(early stages even) of a massive paradigm shift and people are struggling to keep up. For many, AI is this nebulous and omnipotent entity that can give you answers to anything and everything you ask it. It can draft powerpoint presentations, vibe code websites, write marketing copy, and in general do your job for you. Whether you're a college student writing a paper or a salesperson drafting a client proposal, AI can do it better and faster. But in my mind this is a massive

Speed vs Safety: the AI Dilemma

Speed vs Safety: the AI Dilemma

I'm currently working on a personal project for the purposes of leveling up my skill-set as a programmer using the latest greatest AI tools. While I do use some of these in my work, our tech stack and the types of things our clients request don't leverage these tools to the fullest extent. But first, let's talk about the what and why. What am I building, and why do I feel the need to? The what: a life dashboard application. Something that will act as my personal life management system, includi

Driver vs Passenger Princess

Driver vs Passenger Princess

The world is hell bent on keeping you driving. Keep pushing things forward, keep grinding, keep hustling. Rise and grind. I’ll sleep when I’m dead. No rest for the weary. Dream big, hustle harder. While you’re sleeping, someone else is working. But the mind does not work this way. If you just grind endlessly, eventually you’ll grind your soul to dust. There doesn’t need to be a finish line, some point where everything you’ve worked toward has been achieved and you can live in perfect harm

It’s Always Sunny is a Frame of Mind

It’s Always Sunny is a Frame of Mind

Day 1 of the Europe trip I’ve been looking forward to for months, and I’m stuck at an airport hotel in Philadelphia. I don’t know what happened, but it reeeaaaally feels like airlines have collectively become incompetent blubbering idiots since COVID. The number of flight delays/disruptions/overbookings/missed connections seems to have skyrocketed, in both my personal experience and that of my friends. But I digress. As cathartic as it is, bitching and moaning about airline fuckery isn’t helpf

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On Extremism

0:00 /2:12 1× When someone's already said it perfectly, there's no need to add commentary. Much love, Brandon

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An Obvious Addiction - Rage

Addicted - exhibiting a compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, behavior, or activity. As I wrote in a previous post, one of the goals of for profit media is to make people angry. Angry people stay glued to the screen for longer which leads to more advertising revenue. The chain from incentive -> action -> outcome is pretty straightforward. While left-wing media might outwardly rage at the idea of another Trump presidency, I suspect that in

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A Curious Addiction - Excessive Naval Gazing

From merriam-webster dictionary: Navel-gazing(noun): useless or excessive self-contemplation I've spent much of my time over the last 2-5 years navel gazing, particularly since I returned to Denver in January of 2023 after 4 months back in Medellin. I began therapy (which I've done consistently since then), studied philosophy, journaled, started a men's group, and generally focused on becoming a more content, happy person. Ironically, it had the opposite effect in many ways. Looking at

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On Living to Oneself

I'm borrowing a practice that Sam Torode used in his writing of The Manual: A Philosopher's Guide to Life. It was actually his version of another translation, which he wrote by spending some time every morning reading a piece, pondering it, and explaining it in a concise way that made the most sense to him. This morning I listened to letter 10 from Seneca's Letters From a Stoic, titled 'On Living to Oneself'. The piece ends with this nugget of wisdom, which is where my commentary starts: Li

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Responsibilities and Priorities

I was recently referred to the same article by both my barber and therapist about dating in Denver being a dumpster fire. Weirdly serendipitous, but I guess they're both the people that you bitch and moan to about this sorta thing. In it, I was introduced to a new term that's been on my mind a lot lately: Peter Pan syndrome. From wikipedia: Peter Pan Syndrome is a pop psychology term used to describe an adult who is socially immature. It refers to “never-growing” adults who have reached an

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We Are All Complicit

Here are a number of statements made by each side about the opposition during the build up to the 2024 election. Read each one and think about which you agree with, and which seem absolutely preposterous: * "(Trump would) ban abortion nationwide, restrict access to birth control and put IVF treatments at risk and force states to monitor women's pregnancies. Just Google project 2025 and read the plans for yourself." * "Kamala Harris supports the execution of a baby after birth. That’s the kind

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What Are You Pretending to Care About Today?

Our collective cultural short term memory is fucked. Causes and crucial issues pop up and hide away like a game of whack-a-mole. With each instance a new cycle of outrage begins, but the end result is the same: nothing changes. If it's not important 3 months from now, it was never important. Any time some pundit, influencer, or algorithm shows you something that pokes at your attention, DEMANDS your outrage, ask yourself: am I willing to commit to caring about this for the next year of m

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Put It On The Calendar

While conducting a past year review of 2023 I was unable to complete one part of the assignment: to look back at my year and analyze how I spent my time. Which things did I love? Which did I loathe? Which lead to personal growth? And which did I feel caused a regression? I was able to look at the broad strokes, sure. I: * Moved back from Colombia. * Started going to therapy. * Did a 3 week jaunt through Europe for a friends wedding. * Camped a bunch stateside. * Went to the Colorado R

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Supporting Men

Much of my thinking about the world is influenced by evolutionary psychology. I’ve previously referred to many of the issues modern people face as existing downstream of the disconnect between the primitive ‘hardware’ our minds function on clashing with the latest ‘software’ the modern world requires our minds to execute(various sources). I’ve also written about the importance of having a close group of friends who you can turn to when times get tough, or that simply spending time with helps yo

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On Instant Gratification (and Worthwhile Rewards)

The successful among us delay gratification. The successful among us bargain with the future. -Jordan Peterson I (and many close friends of mine) are constantly looking for ways to optimize productivity, professional output, and improve chances of long term success. Yet I often feel like this magical box I always have in my pocket saps away short and long term focus. In exchange, I get frequent micro-hits of dopamine that make me feel good for a second, but always leave me looking for the next

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Goals and Consequences: Post Mortem

Well, I made it through the month long challenge I wrote about in my last post, and the fact that I'm just now writing this(about 3 weeks after I finished it) should give a good indicator as to how it went. The good news: I did manage to hit 80% or better every week, so I didn't have to donate any money to the anti-charity! The bad news: I ran myself into the ground with that level of output, and the camping trip that took place the weekend following the challenge was the final nail in the cof

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Goals and Consequences

It's that time again! Time to impose a stupidly fastidious/rigorous ruleset on myself in an effort to ingrain some better behavior. Those who know me well know that I do this sort of thing with some regularity. Life moves so quick these days it can seem like it's flying by, so much so that it's easy to forget (or not have the time) to stop and think if you're doing things the way that you want, or if you're even doing the right things in the first place. I've found these exercises useful in th

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On Catharsis

I don't know what the move is here, I honestly don't. This can't really be the point where everything collapses. It's too absurd. Too fast. There's too much pushing all of us forward. The stock market is plowing ahead despite the chaos. Covid-19 panic seems to be dying down. Places are reopening and it's going relatively well. Everything's going to continue forward, the maniacs from both fringes are just stirring up some madness right now. But that might be my own echo chamber reflecting back