Lunch Buddy

I have a dear old lunch buddy that I've known since high school. Even though we have much in common, our political compasses have drifted over the years. Lately, we have been bickering over Trump’s supreme court nominees. My friend was willing to condone every action of Trump as long as affirmative action for college admissions got repealed. I felt it was too high a price to pay.

We were at one of our favorite haunts, a hole-in-the-wall that served mouth-watering dumplings and delectable potstickers. I was showing off my brand new Meta Ray Ban smart glasses. I demonstrated how magical it was playing tunes and snapping pics. We had fun asking odd trivia questions. When the simmering dumplings arrived, I removed the sunglasses to prevent it from being fogged up.

As my friend scooped up the final potsticker, he knew I was a big Tesla fan and gave me a friendly gibe, "hey, you heard even Elon has announced he's not going to vote for Biden - great minds think alike!"

I knew I was being trolled but I still fell for it. I came up with the rejoinder "Need social proof to buttress your beliefs now? Lame! Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people"

And in that moment, I felt so proud of my comeback. I stood up triumphantly and signalled in a mic-drop fashion, "Let's get out of here". My friend said something in protest, but I would have none of it. I stood erect and marched out. My friend kept saying something but I had already shut him out.

It was only when we were clear out of the restaurant that he finally got through to me, "Where are your glasses?" Oops! So much for my victorious departure, "Why didn't you bring them for me?", I wailed. "It was to teach you a lesson"

Pride goeth before a fall is a lesson I seem to have to learn over and over again.

Reflecting, I realize how I often put up a façade or veneer that prevents me from having deeper connections with others. In 2024, I’m going to come out and play more often! I'd like to figure out how I can better connect with old and new friends, keeping or even encouraging my playful, curious side without being overwhelmed by the egotistical self. It's a tricky balance, I'm often uncomfortable just putting myself out there, and perhaps this uncomfortable feeling brings to fore my prideful side.

And actually, why wait till 2024? There are so many fun new AI tools to play with! I just got invited to play with the new text-to-video tool Pika that is taking Twitter by storm. So, I thought why not try to create video vignettes of my little story above?

I started with a simple prompt:

Not sure what I was expecting. Not too bad except where are the sunglasses? Maybe I should try making the sequence clearer:

Hmm… that’s objectively worse! Let me try another prompt

and here’s an attempt of making a longer video:

At one level, just being able to immediately generate a video from a line of text is truly magical and amazing. I wouldn’t have believed it was even possible just a few years ago.

But of course, I’m not going to win any Oscars from this effort. There is still so much more to go. The potential is enormous. The fears about AI are way catastrophized. But if we pick up new skills, be open to new sensibilities and envision new possibilities, perhaps we’ll live in a brighter future. Best wishes for 2024!

Thanks to

Rick Lewis

for coaxing the story out of me and patiently listening to it as I practiced and retold it.