Marius R.

A pixel trainer for *invisible websites

I am a pixel trainer. I train these feral little beasts that I love to be of service to my clients, by conveying information, evoking specific emotions, or often both. I'm doing this while trying to keep the way of doing it invisible. I believe the user should focus on their goal and not have to deal with anything else. However, if they choose to pause, they should always be in a beautiful place.

Going Meta

The AI revolution is here. Jobs, especially mine, are already changing. We'll all have to go meta.
But what does that mean? I see two answers to this question:

1. We'll have to step up and learn how to work with the AIs. Become "Art Directors" instead of "Executives".
Instead of fiddling with HTML, CSS and JS (which I love), I'm now finding ways of convincing the AI to do it for me. I use the word "convincing", as this is how it feels sometimes to get the right execution from the AIs.

There is a catch though. Step by step we're placing a black box in the middle of our product. Information goes in on one end and it goes out processed from the other end, sometimes without us understanding completely what's going on inside. Tight deadlines, insufficient foundational knowledge or laziness can lead to dead ends.
Also, without having the right knowledge a day's work will end when the AI credits are consumed :)

Come to think of it, companies will have to implement "black box tolerance" policies. Some will have zero tolerance to black boxes - the coders will have to know how every line of code works - some might have 100% tolerance and might not even have senior coders. Most companies will be somewhere in between.

Of course, we're using that black box concept everywhere in our technology, I don't have to know how a processor works in order to use it, same for an LCD display. It'll be the same for the work I'm doing now, but we're still some years away from that. Looking at other technologies though, there will always be a need for someone who understands black boxes.

2. We'll have to be better than AIs to remain competitive. Better means being more creative, being more human - after all, we're creating for humans, not robots. I like to believe that an AI couldn't have come up with the concept of this portfolio-site. Going meta until the very fabric of the Universe (spoiler alert!) isn't something an AI could think of for the portfolio of a web designer.
I might be wrong, but I believe that the time of "ultra-specialisation" will come to an end as that kind of ultra-specialisation will be the first to be replaced by artificial minds. Instead, there will be a need for individuals that are always curious about everything and thrive in a synesthesia of information (can't wait!).

But having proficient technical knowledge and being a good AI whisperer is not enough to be a top professional. Let's take a step back and go meta again.

Life & Work Philosophy

Since working takes roughly half of one's waking life, it would be a shame not to harmonise these two if given the possibility. I'll skip the cliches though, we all know them. I'll just say this about life & work: for me, the best place to be is between the two types of beauty one finds in this Universe: the logical beauty and the artistic one.

In my working life this means design (UI/UX) and builds (HTML, CSS, JS). It means communication with designers and with programmers. It means getting that instant rush when something just clicks, or that long satisfaction of designing something beautiful.

It means reading belletristic literature after a science book.

In fact, I believe¹ the whole Universe works like that. Let's go meta. ¹ I have no idea, no one does, but it's fun to think about it. And since no one knows for sure, you're entitled to your own theory. There's even a physicist that believes the Universe works as a jazz ensemble.

One could say this Universe has a design to it

I mean, there are atoms, aren't there? And laws of space and time. If there's an incomprehensible Mind behind them is beyond the scope of these musings, but the fact is that we're not swimming in randomness.

Since there is no definite answer, here's my take on it. This is how I see it:

This is how I see it resolved - the two ends of infinity will come together. The roads might be different, but the singularity will be the same.

Intermezzo

So, we've gone through the "Five Whys" of Sakichi Toyoda¹

I created a portfolio website to showcase my work, but by asking why five times we got to some serious depths, where I ventured to present my opinion about the design of the whole shebang

But what about meaning? Everything that we humans design and build has a purpose, a meaning. It might be built into it implicitly or it might be generated in the mind of the other, but at one point meaning will arise.

How about the Universe? The "Go Meta" button is still active, so we can go even further. But bear in mind, some information cannot be unlearned. Go further only if you're ready to go into the BIOS of the Universe.

¹ Five whys

Yes, 42 is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything¹

So we do have the answer, but unfortunately we don't understand it yet. But, I'm with David Deutsch² here: the pursuit of knowledge, driven by our ability to create explanations, is a force with potentially infinite reach. There are no ultimate limits to what we can understand, and our capacity for creativity and critical thinking will allow us to solve any problem that doesn't violate the laws of physics.

Still, 42 "sits" on something, doesn't it?

I mean, there is a support for it where it *means* something. That IS the final and ultimate mistery, isn't it? Well, the "go meta" button is still active.

¹ 42

Yes, it's turtles all the way down¹

¹ William James and the old lady