M Thomas Apple Author Page

Science fiction, actual science, history, and personal ranting about life, the universe, and everything

Short sharp shocks, please

March 27, 2024
MThomas

Daily writing prompt
What’s something most people don’t understand?

How NOT to look at their smartphone while zombie walking on a train platform or stairs.

Smartphones should be programmed to send tiny electrical shocks into your hand when you walk while reading them. Put the thing in your pocket until you clear the field.

Techie here! (Aka geek)

March 26, 2024
MThomas

How has technology changed your job?

How has it not?

I’m a TESOL teacher. Learning to use technology — appropriately — has always been a part of my job.

It’s the “appropriate” part that has difficult to deal with the past few years.

Yeah. Hi, Chat.

Forget about Zoom, LMS, video editing software, and all sorts of online sites that don’t need any knowledge of programming language.

I was making my own web pages in basic HTML and JavaScript back when people still though InternetExplorer was a good browser.

But tech is nothing more than a tool. And tools can be used well and badly.

And often the simple tech of a piece of paper and a pencil are all you need. No bandwagon mentality here.

So if anything I would say that, although I have always used technology to some degree for my job, I have had the luxury of experience (and a lot of mistakes!) to figure out when technology can help my job, and when it just gets in the way.

(FWIW I also teach a one-semester class about language, identity, and technology. And yes, we do analyze our selfies.)

Trolling trolls rarely works

March 21, 2024
MThomas

On March 13th, someone on Goodreads shelved Bringer of Light, and on March 14th gave it a one-star rating, the lowest possible.

On March 15th, Bringer of Light was finally published online.

I flagged the “review” as violating Goodreads policy, and received an email saying the company would deal with it appropriately.

Six days later, the one-star “review” still stands.

It’s been very tempting to post a comment. But for the moment, I have resisted.

If you don’t like my work, that’s fine. But it is simply mean-spirited to try to judge it without even bothering to read it.

There are lots of trolls out there. They must be starving for attention.

Poor buggers. You’ll have to find food elsewhere.

March 2024 Goodreads giveaway for Bringer of Light has ended

March 14, 2024
MThomas

Thanks to all who asked for a copy of Bringer of Light in the recent Goodreads giveaway!

Congratulations if you were a winner, and if you were not chosen by the system, take heart: there will be another giveaway in the near future. Thank you for your interest in my science fiction! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it!

Another…uh, milestone, I guess?

March 2, 2024
MThomas

I’m not sure why 1,337 is a magical number, but if my readers are happy, then I’m happy.

Thank you, all! I hope to continue to like your posts as well, and hope I can continue to write more ✍️ 💻 📱

Dear Diary – January 4, 2019

August 31, 2023
MThomas

It’s a lie. It’s all a lie.

When you believe in a lie, you fool yourself. When you say it with conviction, you fool others.

Get enough people fooled, and you got yourself a new religion.

And by the way, thanks for reading!

June 20, 2023
MThomas

I’m sorry that I haven’t been posting much lately. Work has just become completely overwhelming, and the rainy season (here in Japan) hasn’t helped.

But I do read your comments and I appreciate them, and all your “likes,” too!

Just realized it’s been MONTHS since I posted the next installment of Bringer of Light.

Yikes.

Time to wrap up the first book and get to the climax already!

Researchers can now “see” you using WiFi

March 29, 2023
MThomas

Interestingly, they position this advancement as progress in privacy rights; “In addition, they protect individuals’ privacy and the required equipment can be bought at a reasonable price,” they wrote.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3p7xj/scientists-are-getting-eerily-good-at-using-wifi-to-see-people-through-walls-in-detail

If you’re not scared of tech yet, you should be.

The real danger of unregulated AI

February 27, 2023
MThomas

“I’m less frightened by a Sydney that’s playing into my desire to cosplay a sci-fi story than a Bing that has access to reams of my personal data and is coolly trying to manipulate me on behalf of whichever advertiser has paid the parent company the most money.

“Nor is it just advertising worth worrying about. What about when these systems are deployed on behalf of the scams that have always populated the internet? How about on behalf of political campaigns? Foreign governments? “I think we wind up very fast in a world where we just don’t know what to trust anymore,” Gary Marcus, the A.I. researcher and critic, told me. “I think that’s already been a problem for society over the last, let’s say, decade. And I think it’s just going to get worse and worse.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/26/opinion/microsoft-bing-sydney-artificial-intelligence.html

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