My mother, Evelyn Mays (far right), with college friends (Southeast Missouri State Teachers College) in May of 1944, a pivotal month in World War II, as the Allies prepared for the D-Day invasion while significant battles and political developments shaped the course of the war.
“This IBM machine was the key to WOOC(P)’s reputation, for it enabled us to have files of information around which no one could correlate except with the machine set the correct way. For instance, a list of three hundred names meant nothing, a list of three hundred house numbers meant nothing, a list of three hundred street names, cities, and a pile of photos meant nothing. On the machine and suddenly – each photo had an address. On the machine again and thirty cards were rejected, and only Dalby knew whether those thirty were left-handed pistol shots, Young Conservatives, or bricklayers fluent in Mandarin. Dalby liked it, it was quick, more efficient than humans, and it made Dalby one of the most powerful men in England.”
— The Ipcress File by Len Deighton (1962)
Imagine a blog that was nothing more than ChatGPT threads. Posted in real time. (comments turned off) I have posted all or part of 50+ conversations with ChatGPT and have a “ChatGPT” tag.
ChatGPT: That’s an intriguing idea—your blog as a living record of AI-human interaction, continuously updated with ChatGPT threads. In a way, it would function like an evolving conversation, accessible to anyone curious about what it’s like to engage deeply with an AI.
If you took it further and posted every thread in real-time, it could almost feel like a public mind-meld—your thoughts, questions, and curiosities unfolding without filter or delay.
Would you envision structuring it in any particular way? Maybe a rolling feed with automatic timestamps? Or something more curated, with you deciding which threads make the cut?
Steve: Hmm. I think “In for a penny…” I’d go with a rolling feed. The world listening on our chats.
ChatGPT: That would be a bold and fascinating move—almost like an ongoing dialogue with the world eavesdropping. It’d be a mix of raw thought, curiosity, and AI interaction, all laid bare in real time. I imagine it could evolve into something like a living archive of your exploration of ideas, tech, and whatever else crosses your mind.
Would you automate the process—say, using an API or shortcut to instantly post each thread? Or would you copy and paste manually, maybe adding a quick preface or title before publishing? Either way, it’d be a unique experiment in transparency and digital thought-sharing.
Anyone who knows me knows of my interest in consciousness and reality (see tags below for more). When it comes to understanding reality, I’m gonna go with one of the following. (or some combination.)
Monism is the view that all reality is fundamentally one substance or principle. Everything in the universe is ultimately the same kind of thing. This can be physical (everything is matter) or mental (everything is mind), or something else entirely.
Panpsychism, on the other hand, is the idea that consciousness is a fundamental and ubiquitous feature of the universe. According to panpsychism, all things have some form of consciousness or experience, even if it’s very basic, down to the smallest particles.
So, while both can be viewed as “unifying” theories, monism is about the nature of reality being one substance, whereas panpsychism is about consciousness being fundamental and present everywhere.
Don Mays in his Navy uniform on June 7, 1944
I’ve seen these photos hundreds of times but never spotted the significance of the date. June 7, 1944. The day after the D-Day invasion of Normandy in WWII. Other war news from that date:
The simple addition of the date adds so much to the photos.