This week, I write about two important questions we need to ask ourselves every morning “Who am I? What am I doing here?”. I also recap my week where I appeared on live CNA news, gave a crash course in vibe coding to the Monetary Authority of Singapore, built a new game with AI, and tried out the new Excel plugin from ChatGPT. I’m also writing up my recommendations for the 20 books that shape my life.
What I wrote this week
The 4th of May is a big day for Star Wars fans, but for me, I will remember it because I appeared on CNA News (live TV!) to give my views on why human knowledge and creativity matter in the AI age. I’ve been saying the same thing in my AI workshops for the past three years, and I’m glad I could share it with a far bigger audience this time.
I built a new Sliders Game as a demo for my AI workshops and keynote speeches. It’s fun and you can also upload your own images to turn them into a puzzle. It works great on both mobile and desktop screens.
I demo-ed the game at the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Transformation Day where I gave a crash course on vibe coding.
ChatGPT just released its Excel and Google sheets plug-in, and it’s pretty good. The announcement was very quiet though.
I’m recommending the 20 books that shape my life and it takes a long time to write each post. This is because I actually go read the book again to make sure I get the gist right.
Book 1 – The Bible
Book 2 – Mindset by Carol Dweck, et al.
Book 3 – Mindlessness by Ellen Langer
Book 10 – How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
One of the 20 books is The Almanack of Naval Ravikant. It’s a recent addition to the list and it’s currently on sale on the Amazon Kindle store for US$2.99. I buy most of my Kindle books with steep discounts and this one is a must-read.
For Christians, it’s important to stick Bible verses around your home to remind you of God’s teachings. Here’s how I do it with Canva and Canon.
Sunday Essay
I love this story that was first told to me by Prof Lee Chu Keong from my school. I’ve reworked it based on other sources I’ve found:
Rabbi Akiva was walking late at night near a Roman fortress while absorbed in thought. A Roman guard suddenly challenged him from the top of the wall:
“Who are you? What are you doing here?”
The rabbi said: “What?”
The guard shouted again: “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
He pondered, then shouted back: “How much do you get paid to ask these questions?”
The guard replied: “Two drachma a week!”
Rabbi Akiva shouted: “I will pay you double to stand outside my house every day and ask me these two questions every morning!”
Since I heard this story from Prof Lee two years ago, I try to remember to ask myself the two questions every morning. Self-awareness is the first step towards achieving happiness.
19th century writer Søren Kierkegaard wrote that the great tragedy of human life was not suffering, but living unconsciously. He believed that many people drifted through their existence absorbed in social expectations, public opinion, comfort, routines, status, and distractions. Such people preferred to conform to social pressures rather than desiring freedom and embracing their true passions.
In a similar vein, Henry David Thoreau wrote in his 1854 book Walden that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”, because they conform to societal pressures, routines and materialism while suppressing their deeper desires, anxieties and true potential.
Nearly two centuries later, you can see for yourself how their words ring true, when so many zombies now walk our streets, completely lost in the Matrix, and not even knowing that they are desperately unhappy.