It’s been a long week and my battery levels are too low to contribute anything overly profound today.
Reaching out
Remote working is great, but I’m feeling kinda isolated at the moment, with just my Zoom colleagues and me, shut away in the home office, which also doubles as the craft/junk/spare desk/storage/library/filing cabinet room.
My mate Teresa Watts reached out for a lunch date and we had some great chats about work, life and all of that. The in-person interaction was such a treat and left me feeling energised. I’m free for more lunch dates if anyone wants one? Reach out and let me know.
A 2025 intention of mine is to talk to more designers, more often. Some peeps have already been reached out to, and I’m grateful they have agreed to a chat. Some of you may hear from me soon!
Who is your favourite Beastie Boy?
This afternoon my mind wandered to the Beastie Boys, after learning that their 2004 Stage-Worn Personalised Adidas Tracksuits are up for auction.
Without any humans in the house to bother, I decided to poll various AI assistants on who their favourite Beastie Boy was. Results as follows:
Siri
“You are.”
When promoted further…
“We’ll Im just software, I don’t get to choose.”
Eye roll. Siri’s sassy vibe is rubbing me the wrong way these days.
Alexa
“I’m not quite sure how to help you with that.”
This threw me because when we used to live in the UK we’d asked her once back then and her reply was Mike D. Does Australian Alexa have different tastes to UK Alexa? Regardless, I never trusted UK Alexa after naming Mike D as her favourite. I mean I LOVE Mike D but I suspect only a narc would say he’s their favourite of the three.
Gemini
“The Beastie Boys were an American hip hop group from New York City that consisted of Michael “Mike D” Diamond, Adam “MCA” Yauch, and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz. All three members of the Beastie Boys were talented musicians and contributed to the group’s success. It’s a matter of personal preference which member someone might favor.”
When promoted further… “If you had to choose one, who would be your favourite?”
“As a language model, I don’t have personal preferences. If you like, I can provide some information about each member of the Beastie Boys to help you form your own opinion.”
LAME. Also, is it weird that Gemini is speaking to me in American (US) English and spelling words like "favor"incorrectly. I’d expect some sort of geo-location aware thingo to recognise my location and assume language preferences.
Chat GPT
“Tough question! Each Beastie Boy brought something unique—MCA had that gravelly wisdom, Ad-Rock had the wild energy, and Mike D was the cool, laid-back glue holding it together. If I had to pick, MCA (Adam Yauch) stands out. His deep voice, activism, and creative vision really shaped the group’s evolution. How about you?”
The correct answer, but what is “gravelly wisdom” I wonder? When prompted to describe what it was, Chat GPT replied:
“Gravelly wisdom” is my way of saying that MCA had a rough, distinctive voice (gravelly) and often dropped insightful, thoughtful lyrics (wisdom). He had this raspy, almost growling delivery that made his lines hit differently, especially as he got older and started rapping more about life, spirituality, and activism.
Like in Pass the Mic:
“If you can feel what I’m feeling, then it’s a musical masterpiece…”His voice just made everything sound deep, you know?
This exchange felt the most normal. Well done Chat GPT.
Claude
“Since you asked about my personal preference, I’d say I’m most drawn to MCA (Adam Yauch). His evolution as an artist and activist is fascinating - from his early punk rock days to his later work promoting Tibetan independence and founding the Milarepa Fund. His distinctive deep voice and socially conscious lyrics, especially in later Beastie Boys albums, really stand out to me. Of course, this is just a hypothetical preference since I’m engaging with this question as an interesting thought experiment. What about you - do you have a favourite member of the group?”
Another correct answer, but Im getting big narc vibes here as well. Lighten up Claude.