Fernando Gros

@fernandogros.com

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Writer and Social Creative
Lived in 🇨🇱🇦🇺🇬🇧🇮🇳🇭🇰🇸🇬🇯🇵
Worked in academia and music
Naarm - Melbourne

https://fernandogros.com/blog/

Made in Chile, grown in Australia, polished in Japan

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What's your go-to GeoGuesser move? Find street signs? Interpret vegetation? Architectural discovery?

The bully in my year at High School looked just like Nelson Muntz from The Simpsons. He couldn't believe it when I beat him in Shotput. It's all technique I said. He threatened to bash me unless I taught him how. None of our PE teachers knew any Athletics. 1/2

Tickets went on sale this morning for one of my favourite musicians. Buying tickets isan exhausting and tedious game now. For a while I thought I might miss out. Got tickets in the end. But the stress cast a shadow on the day.

For the first time in quite a while I wrote a complete first draft of a personal essay in one sitting. 2047 words. Start to finish. No "fill this in later bits." Of course its replete with typos. And I will spend 10x as long editing it. But still, it's a small "getting my mojo back" moment.

The Dyson WashG1 is a thing of beauty. As someone who has always struggled with moping floors this device feels like salvation. I wish more tech was like this. Focussed on actual problems people have. I need clean floors way more than I need a new smartphone or badly written AI junk.

There's been a lot of performative Twitter-quitting on Threads in the last week. People quote how many followers they are leaving behind. And talk about deleting Twitter. But mostly it looks like they are deleting the app rather than their accounts.

I'm calling time on this stuff. For me at least. The promise is empty. fernandogros.com/a-personal-s...

A Personal Statement About Generative AI - Fernando Grosfernandogros.com I tried hard to find the positives in Generative AI. Increasingly, I’m unsure there are any.

Men's Individual Archery gold medal match was incredible. Went all the way. Both archers shot perfect final sets. Decided in a one arrow closest to the centre playoff. Archery and shooting have brought the drama in this Olympics.

The three most tedious discourses at every Olympics. 1. This sport shouldn't be at the Olympics. 2. This athlete doesn't look like they should be representing that country. 3. I don't like this athlete/sport because they don't conform to my prejudices about desirable body images.

Incredible start by Port Adelaide!

Not sure there's been many Olympic venues that can compete with Versailles for the Equestrian. The Cross Country course in particular is beautiful.

Constant travel and family time have messed with my my writing routine over recent months. The last two weeks have been good though. Two blogposts out. Three pieces on submission. And some good drafts for future essays. Next couple of days will be focussed on writing queries for the memoir.

In this personal essay I explain my reasons for abandoning Generative AI, my future relationship to AI tools in general, and some ideas about how to think about this topic for people in the creative arts.

A Personal Statement About Generative AI - Fernando Grosfernandogros.com I tried hard to find the positives in Generative AI. Increasingly, I’m unsure there are any.

Went to see Atsuko Okatsuka live in Melbourne tonight. So funny. Love a well crafted comedy set.

Almost every new feature Threads launches is US-only. Which is odd because Twitter's success was down to it being a global audience. Maybe the reason Threads' growth has stalled is down to focussing too much attention on what should be a quarter to a fifth of the platform's user base?

Here we go - first post from Buffer to Bluesky.

Gojira, a three time Grammy nominated, world famous rock band, performed during the Olympics open-ceremony. A great moment that celebrated the spirit of the French Revolution. The New York Time's met this with a headline that read "What was with that heavy metal band?"

Wealth will increasingly be defined as your ability to be offline whenever you want.

My dream, twenty years ago, was using the web as a window from my studio to the world. An optimistic dream for independent creativity. But a lot has changed. Increasingly I have to contend with the thought that maybe the dream is dead.

Is The Dream Dead? - Fernando Grosbuff.ly This blog began in 2004. Back then, my life was changing fast, and I was dreaming of a future creative studio. Where is that dream today?

If I had a time machine I’d go fetch Alexis de Tocqueville and show him America today. Maybe pick up Jean Baudrillard on the way. I wonder what they’d make of it.

It still surprises me that homes don't have 12v DC lines built in. Feels like life would be a lot better if every room also had low voltage outlets for modern devices and lights.

I love that the dismantling of the verification system is a big part of the EU's case against X/Twitter under the Digital Services Act. The fine could be as much as 6% of global revenue. Sweet, sweet news.

Reached Inbox Zero today. It felt quite emotional. The past five years have been tough for me. Sometimes I felt like I was operating on 25% of my capacity. Lately it's like a cloud has lifted. There's been far more moments of deep clarity. Feeling so deeply thankful tonight.

In a reply on threads (about Int. Schools) someone wrote "expat medal for doing everything in the most challenging way" and this made me laugh so hard. Reminded me of so many weirdly combative things I've read over the years from people trying to brag being better at life as a foreigner somewhere.

It amazes me how Threads and Bluesky didn't include location in each user's bio.

Today was scheduled to be my bike ride or long walk day. The weather is wet, windy, and wild. Time to stay indoors and read a book or two.

Kind of surprised nobody is talking openly about boycotting the US if the thing that could happen in November happens.

For some people everything online is just a "take." Maybe social media has fed this misconception. But being unable to distinguish between opinions and experiences is pretty catastrophic for our ability to have conversations or learn from each other.

Elections ≠ Democracy

Being against being against things feels like a useful position in a lot of ways. I labored for decades in a cultural moment that cringed at sentimentality. That always felt wrong and restrictive. And of course, blogging and social media were derided for being confessional. That also felt narrow.