Joel Maust - Blogger, Marketer, Photographer -

Are “The Shallows” Getting Shallower with ChatGPT?

Post author By Joel Maust
Post date February 12, 2023
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It’s been fascinating to finally arrive at the end of Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains amidst the AI leap we’re witnessing with ChatGPT.

I’ve been reading The Shallows off and on for around two years, after learning of it via John Eldredge’s excellent (and immensely applicable) Get Your Life Back: Everyday Practices for a World Gone Mad.

In chapter 10, Carr recounts Joseph Weizenbaum’s creation of ELIZA in the mid 1960s, one of the world’s first natural language processors and a primitive chat bot of sorts.

Its success surprised and somewhat troubled Weizenbaum. A decade later he wrote a book titled Computer Power and Human Reason within which he cautioned readers of the inevitable consequences of intertwining our lives with computers.

40 Days of Increase: Do I still believe?

Post author By Joel Maust
Post date January 24, 2023
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It’s been seven years since I created the content that eventually became my book 40 Days of Increase.

So much has happened since then. So, so much.

We’ve moved—lots (as if that’s a surprise to anyone, given our track record).

We bought a business.

We built and sold our house.

I was forced out of my job.

We’ve dealt with chronic health issues.

We stopped attending church.

We’ve seen marriages blow up, friends abandon their faith and things hoped for not pan out.

And those are just some of the big things we’ve personally navigated the past seven years. Layer on top of them all the things we’ve dealt with as a country and people: nasty politics, racial tensions, pandemics and lockdowns, wars, natural disasters, inflation …

It’s been a lot.

So where do I stand on the idea of perpetual Kingdom increase I so confidently wrote about now that I’m seven years further down the path—and possibly a bit jaded?

Does the increase of his government and peace still have no end?

Do I believe his leaven will still permeate every part of the dough?

Personal Productivity Quotes

Keeping Agreements With Yourself

Post author By Joel Maust
Post date December 8, 2022
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I was reading David Allen’s Ready for Anything this morning and the chapter’s opening line fit right in with some ideas I’ve been pondering lately:

Stress comes from unkept agreements with yourself.

Of course, it’s not like this is the only place stress comes from. The world we live in is rife with stressors. But I think it is an often overlooked or entirely unrealized source of stress that is worth noting and mitigating.

Creativity Photography

Flathead River and Swan Mountains, Winter 2014

Post author By Joel Maust
Post date January 4, 2019
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Here’s a pic from my archives that I haven’t done anything with in many years. I took this photo of the Flathead River with the Swan Mountains looming in the background the first winter I had my Nikon D810—2014.

Quotes Spiritual

Integrity

“A wisdom model” is how Morgan Snyder proposes men approach their 30s. There’s no better source of true wisdom than scripture—the words of Jesus and the proverbs in particular.

This section of Proverbs 3:3 from The Passion Translation embodies truth I’ve lived by, sometimes intentionally but oftentimes not. Much of it I attribute simply to my upbringing. Integrity was strongly modeled by my parents and extended family.

Personal

Fathers: You have permission

Post author By Joel Maust
Post date June 17, 2018
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This morning perfectly epitomized the struggle I’ve faced to establish better balance in my life. Jacob summoned me at 5 a.m. to attend to a bloody nose. It was a pretty bad one, so all-in-all it took about 30 minutes to get it under control and get him back to bed.

I had intended to sleep in a bit, until around 7 a.m., and then do a workout before enjoying Father’s Day breakfast with the family. But I’m not great at going back to sleep when awoken early morning, so I scrapped that plan and slowly started working through my morning routine.

Spiritual Transformation

God’s Invitation to Become a New Creation

Post author By Joel Maust
Post date February 8, 2018
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Four years ago, I started on a journey I never finished. In fact, I probably didn’t even start, but rather intended to start or wanted to start or thought it sounded like a good idea to start—like when you watch a documentary about sugar or juicing or minimalism and are all pumped to embrace a new paradigm … until you go to sleep and wake up the next day and either forget entirely or just get sucked into the vortex that is everyday life.

This happens everyday. To all of us. And apparently it happened to me four years ago.