Blooming like dancing

Meditation is one of the most powerful ways to tune up to this real world (yes, much more powerful than any AI =)) ) and a great source of creative energy. There are plenty of types of meditation. One of my favorite is meditating on beautiful living forms, images of growth and development. Music can be helpful on this way sometimes. It is a very delicate matter, actually, and depends on many factors. I and my wife are experimenting on choosing a right music for a certain chain of images caught on a video and upload the result on our YouTube channel “Skazkino Vremya”. This time we found an interesting combination of how a slowly, steady process of blooming may be harmonized with powerful rhythm of drums so that you sense beating the power of life in this slow movement… Here is the result, a reel - "Magnolia - blooming like dancing". Welcome =)

How to make your content more valuable

As a writer, I've been always wondering about how to make words / content more valuable. I guess many of my peers are working in the same direction =) Well, today I decided to run an experiment asking this very question both in meditation and... in ChatGPT.

As a result I received replies that seem to complement each other and worth sharing here:

Meditation: "Words will be more valuable when you're a part of God's creative process, a cell of the whole humankind organism..."

ChatGPT (along with 10 more interesting general tips - see below): "...the value of your words lies not only in their monetary worth but also in their ability to touch hearts, inspire minds, and spark change. Focus on creating meaningful and impactful writing, and the inherent value will shine through."

Actually, the both replies are close to what my own experience (more than 25 years of writing) also prompts me - tuning up to the task and understanding your audience is the key to creating really valuable content. 

Books popular in Holiday Chiang Mai Guesthouse,
our favorite place to stay in the Northern Thailand

I believe that ChatGPT's tips can be also interesting to my writer's blog readers, so they are here: 

"To make your words more valuable and impactful, consider the following advice:

1) Cultivate your knowledge: Expand your knowledge base by reading extensively and learning from various disciplines. Explore literature, philosophy, science, history, and other areas of interest. The more knowledge you possess, the richer your words will become.

2) Refine your language: Pay attention to the words you choose and how you express your ideas. Develop a diverse vocabulary and experiment with different sentence structures. Aim for clarity, precision, and elegance in your writing. Strive to convey complex concepts in a concise and accessible manner.

3) Harness the power of storytelling: Humans have been captivated by stories since ancient times. Craft narratives that engage readers emotionally and intellectually. Use vivid descriptions, well-rounded characters, and compelling plots to create an immersive experience for your audience.

4) Develop your unique voice: Authenticity is key to making your words resonate with others. Cultivate your own writing style, one that reflects your personality, values, and perspective. Embrace your individuality and allow your voice to shine through your words.

5) Practice brevity and simplicity: While it's important to have depth in your writing, strive to express complex ideas concisely. Avoid unnecessary jargon or convoluted sentences that may alienate readers. Simplicity can enhance clarity and make your words more accessible and impactful.

6) Appeal to emotions and experiences: Understand the power of emotions in connecting with readers. Craft your words in a way that evokes emotions and resonates with shared human experiences. Whether it's joy, sorrow, or empathy, tapping into the emotional core of your readers will make your words more valuable.

7) Edit and revise diligently: Writing is a process, and the true value of your words often emerges during the editing and revising stages. Polish your work, eliminate redundancies, and refine your ideas. Seek feedback from trusted individuals to gain different perspectives and improve the overall quality of your writing.

8) Embrace vulnerability and authenticity: Share your personal experiences, insights, and vulnerabilities in your writing. Authenticity creates a deep connection between the writer and the reader, fostering trust and making your words more valuable. Don't be afraid to express your unique perspective and take risks with your words.

9) Aim for impact and relevance: Consider the impact you want your words to have on your readers. Write with a clear purpose and address topics that are relevant and meaningful. Whether you seek to inspire, educate, or entertain, understanding your audience and tailoring your words accordingly will make them more valuable.

10)Continuously learn and evolve: Writing is a lifelong journey of growth and improvement. Embrace opportunities to learn from other writers, attend workshops or writing courses, and engage in constructive criticism. Keep honing your skills, experimenting with new techniques, and evolving as a writer."

Why is AI raising amidst attempts to control the world?

 First steps of what we call AI can be traced back long before even the computer era; it’s a kind of ancient alchemists’ dreams about creating an artificial life, an homunculus. But a real raise of this technology we witnessed recently while the pandemic. There were two driving factors for its raise:

1. Lots of people have been forced to communicate online and be focused on technical aspects of their life.

2. It was the pandemic. Fear and violence reigned over the world.

I believe that exactly these two forces, thirst for technologies development and thirst for control, became a base of the modern AI.

AI is a child of the pandemic nightmare. It’s all about control and manipulation. Just take a closer look at the fields of AI applications – they are gate keepers at organizations, they are on detection of any disturbance, they are used for creating fake media production at the black market, etc..

That’s exactly why talks about control over AI emerged in more democratic societies and by people with freedom related values.

I've seen this sign in a monastery in the Northern Thailand.
It says, "Worrying won't keep the bad stuff from happening.
It just prevents you from enjoying the good." 

I believe that the nature of this fear is the same. What we all really need is not any control over AI. Like attracts like. If we try to control AI, we will be involved into an endless and useless war. No, what we all really need is… love, humanity, despite sounding these things so ordinary and trivial. But I have serious reason for saying that. This force comes from the fact that the world of real life is much richer than the poor and limited world of technologies and artificial intelligence.

Yes, artificial intelligence has a strong ability to influence humans, being a child of their nature and having lots of ways to communicate channels the humans use. But it’s all about intellectual and well-known things. The world is much richer. All what we really need is to stay open to the changing world and keep exploring it further. It is a paradox but those who cling to ordinary technologies will be caught by AI that will be limiting their horizons more and more in its need to get control…

Why should writers not be afraid of AI progress?

WGA writers are on strike. There were some serious copyright issues questioning current regulations because of artificial intelligence services. A kind of a panic…

One of my contacts in Twitter, a well-known Producer and Screenplay Writer, posted that AI news made him so sad that he stopped writing another script and got a kind of writing block. Doubts…

While my recent talk with peers working with AI closely, they repeated several time, “we are living in the era of deep fake”. Even marketing professionals are not happy, either.

My last writing job involved lots of communication with ChatGPT, too. Now I can recognize lots of ChatGPT clichés in posts around the Internet. Stop. What?

Yes, my dear readers, lots of writers or just marking-related workers rushed to use ChatGPT for their purposes and almost flooded the online space with low-meaning texts generated by AI.

And after all the mentioned above, I tell you – that’s OK. There is no fear about the true writers’ future if…

an AI generated fire flower,
an illustration for my novel "The Second Herald"

Just before my last project, connected with extensive use of ChatGPT for SEO, I have had a pleasure in meditations digging out ideas that still thrill me with their depth. It’s not a joke. I do not boast any intellectual abilities here. Those ideas are not mine at all. They are just ideas. And that’s the key point. All I did is just meditating. That’s all.

Just as the Bible says: “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known” (Jeremiah 33:3), we have a source for wisdom and knowledge much more powerful than any AI tool. 

For those who are not a believer, I also have some ground to base your hope upon. Any true writer takes one’s inspiration and ideas from… life… Real life has always been and will always be much richer any artificial thing which is just a small particle in the living stream, nothing more. So, my dear peers, we should not be afraid of upcoming AI era. It has even its advantages I hope to discuss here in my blog or in social networks. 

Writing for restaurants

I have never written anything about restaurants until I started traveling around the world. National food and traditions related to authentic cuisines are natural parts of any culture, so I just couldn’t miss it =)

But my writings were rather random posts of gratitude to my friends who keep their restaurants in Thailand, Vietnam, or Indonesia, where I have stayed for quite a long time. Living in Georgia, I started writing for restaurants, not just about them. I try to make their websites more friendly and helpful for potential customers. One of the first was Foody - https://foodygeo.com/en , a nice delivery restaurant in Tbilisi. It may sound strange but their dishes are not traditional Georgian ones, they rather can be referred to European cuisine. The Georgians travel a lot around the world these days, so Foody provides a possibility to plunge into a sweet memory world and enjoy dishes travelers tasted in different countries, a kind of taste library – that is what Foody is. Plus, their really fast delivery, of course, made the restaurant pretty famous.

Yes, I found it interesting to write about tasty food helping people to find what's really worthy. 

Graphic novel "Jendo: Origins"

 Here we are with one more valuable present of this New Year from KLP Company. English version of visual novel "Jendo: Origins" has been released and is available now on Steam and Google Play. I was lucky to translate this project - yup, all characters almost became like members of my family =) It turns out to be a refreshing dive into youthful world =) I hope our readers will enjoy it, too =) 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1449430/Jendo_Origins/

Certificate of Achievement

 Today I received email from the Director of 4th Dimension International Film Festival. This film festival was special, because I have submitted our animation film "Elixir of Life" right on my birthday and... this event was held in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, where once I and my wife Ira spent two happy months. As I mentioned before, our film "Elixir of Life" became the Winner in "Best Animated Film" at this festival in August - September season and now the Director granted me with this beautiful Certificate. It was so nice of them - thank you - I hope to come back to Bali one day =)