self improvement

If You’re Gonna Use ChatGPT For Everything, Then At Least Do This

/ Stuart Danker / 41 Comments

The future of writing will mirror the fashion industry, in the sense that fast-fashion will still have its audience, but it’s the handmade items that will stand out.

It’s a pretty fitting analogy, seeing how humankind can never compete with machine-made. But that’s only if you take these factors into account: speed, accuracy, low cost.

Yet it is the long production time and imperfections that give bespoke items their value. And I’m optimistic that I will belong in this segment of the market when that time comes.

A plastic world

I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon once ChatGPT went mainstream. All of a sudden, friends who spoke English as a second language began crafting immaculate Instagram captions and work e-mails.

It may seem like they’re putting their best foot forward, but all they’re doing is presenting a fake mask, because I know for a fact they don’t speak like that.

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Don’t Try

/ Stuart Danker / 60 Comments

On Bukowski’s grave are the words ‘Don’t try’, an epitaph that leaves much room for interpretation. This coming from a man who wrote for decades without compensation, who dared to suffer for his craft, and who was also a loser by society’s standards.

Yet I can’t help feeling a connection with the Buk. He was a loner, I’m a loner. He loved drinking, I love drinking. He quit writing for 10 years, and I’m… well…

I’ve written all I need to write, and now there’s a lack of life to sustain the output. I don’t feel what I write anymore, and that’s a problem. Because how do I coax feelings out of you when I don’t feel anything myself?

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AI Is Going To Replace Me Someday

/ Stuart Danker / 55 Comments

The machines are coming for my job. Oh, how naive I was when wrote this post. While I did accept that AI would someday rival our best writers, I did not expect to see its widespread use this soon.

You’ll find AI text in emails, press releases, even in actual magazines. How do I know? Because they sound like that annoying friend who’d just found crypto. Just like how they’d shoehorn the subject into every conversation—crypto is future-proof, crypto can heal your mother’s cancer, you can turn that sacrificial altar into an NFT—so too would AI use words that don’t belong in a sentence.

No, the term ‘meticulous detail to craftsmanship’ is not grammatically wrong. It just doesn’t fit the vibe of a Myanmarese night market vendor. I swear, if I have to read ‘a testament to its dedication to excellence’ to describe an underwear collection one more time…

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You Will Never Be Enough

/ Stuart Danker / 21 Comments

All your life you’ve been told you’re not enough. You’re too soft. Too short. Too broke.

And you believe it too, because people like David Chappelle, Barack Obama, and Muhammad Ali exist, people who would dance circles (quite literally in Ali’s case) around their problems. You’ll never be like them. Those people are special.

Yet, you try. You join the Toastmasters Club. You read How To Win Friends And Influence People. You even join the service industry, thinking it’ll help you with your social skills, but the only thing you learn from that stint is how to cut hair.

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I Ran 167 Days In A Row And I Don’t Recommend It

/ Stuart Danker / 22 Comments
A compilation of Stuart's IG Story archive

My IG Story archive is just videos of me running.

It’s not that I don’t want you to run. I don’t recommend it because you should find something that resonates with you. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start with a little introduction.

So I’m the type of person who’d adopt a new habit, just because. No warning, no prep, and boom—suddenly I’m on a meditating streak.

That’s how I quit my one-pack-a-day smoking habit. I just decided I wanted to stop smoking. That’s how I turned vegetarian for a couple of years.

And as of 12 June 2024, I’ve officially run five kilometres a day, 167 days in a row. Some days I walked (pulled my back). Some days I ran circles in my room (COVID quarantine). But ever since I told myself I’d cover a certain amount of distance every day, I found myself unable to stop.

Do I want to run a marathon someday? Nope. Am I looking to lose weight? Never. So why the hell am I doing this?

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