Time is now – are you late?

In this newsletter, you can read my thoughts on the changing world of online search and some more personal observations about what it means to be on time.

Do you search to find – or find out to be hallucinated?

Google has been the king of the search hill for the last twenty years. Does any of you still remember Yahoo or AOL? Most of the early birds have been killed with the one Google stone. People voted with their keyboards, and the result was overwhelmingly Google.

Google is a massive beast. Its revenue comes not from serving you but from selling your data to advertisers. That's why it has been so slow in changing anything or giving us more and better options. 

The same goes for the less-known and used competitors like Microsoft's Bing and China's search behemoth Baidu. They jealously protect what they already have; any change is a risk. And Risk is the middle name of progression.

The only white sheep in the market of those black ones is currently Ecosia, a Berlin-based private and charitable search engine. It pledges to use its profits to plant trees around the world. 

But it all may change.

Meet you.com and Perplexity. These new-generation AI-empowered search tools can give you a more relevant and accessible way to search for information. Their basic versions are free, so you can see how they work and then upgrade to their paid subscriptions, which give you access to all AI models available to spice up your searches.

I have been testing both, and Google is so yesterday for me. There is no going back to Google's boolean boringness. As an auditory person, I like to listen, and with these new tools, I can do it and often make them speak the search results for me. It's heaven compared to a list of links without any context. 

These tools save time if everything else is the same. So, give them a go.

But there is a catch: whenever there is AI, there is also a digital LSD in the mix. They can hallucinate. For example, both of them can come up with wildly off-the-mark results if you are not careful and don't double-check. But it's like with everything—even with humans: "Trust but verify," as one exciting president of the USA said. At least in that sense, Nixon was right.

However, while Google and Microsoft try to maintain their hegemonies, you can keep them on their toes by voting with your fingers and letting the new ideas come from the fresh fields of innovation that those giants try to weed out to profit from you and not serve you as they should. Phew. That was a long sentence. 

I can hear William Strunk Jr. shrinking in his grave and White becoming even paler in horror as if they were ghosts witnessing the death of good writing. RIP, good taste, and instead paste what comes to mind. 

Are you on time?

I had a little presentation last week. It was timed to start at 12:30 pm. I was there ready, did my AV check, and waited in anticipation, in high spirits.

A friendly and keen audience started to appear. None were on time, but some were just a couple of minutes late, and most were 5 to 15 minutes late. I heard exceptionally creative excuses, apologies, and touching explanations about how the traffic can be horrible and the trains are always late.

My presentation was a success, and the Q&A was lively. But why was I not happy?

I remember when, as a young theatre director, I was employed to direct a play in one of Finland's northernmost cities, Tornio. Because I lived in Helsinki, I had to fly to Kemi, and then take a bus from there to travel the remaining 30 km. I started my journey at 5 am and was always on time when the rehearsal started at 10 am.

In Finland, it is a virtue to be on time. It means about 10 minutes before the start time of the event.

There was one actress who was always late. She lived 300 meters from the theatre, and her excuses were way more creative than anything she portrayed onstage. So, what did I do?

I gave her role to another actress. I gained some productive time for effective and efficient rehearsals and one very vocal enemy. Thank heavens, there was no social media in those days, or I would have been toast.

So, back to my recent presentation. My unhappiness came from the lack of time for a proper Q&A. I could see how people wanted to discuss, learn more, and exchange ideas with me, but I had to stop on time because I had another appointment and had to be there on time (the famous 10 minutes before, as I learned in Finland). 

I could see disappointment. I was disappointed, too. But I was the only one in time and didn't waste other people's time. None of them seemed to connect the dots: come late, miss the juicy bits. 

Are you on time, or do you expect people to follow your time? And are you sure that your clock has the right tick?

If you ever want to meet me, now you know what makes me tick.

Ngā mihi

Jussi

The book of the week: Master and Margarita

Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov is a rich, complex novel that weaves together different storylines across different times and settings. He wrote it between 1928 and 1940, during the chaotic days of Stalin's regime. It was censored and banned in the Soviet Union and was published as the unexpurgated version in 1973. The translation we can read is the full version of the masterpiece.  

The novel is set primarily in 1930s Moscow, a time of stark contrasts between the atheistic Soviet establishment and the city's lingering spiritual and cultural heritage. 

The story begins with Satan, disguised as a mysterious gentleman named Woland, arriving in Moscow. Accompanied by an entourage that includes a giant talking cat and other bizarre figures, Woland engages in a series of chaotic, magical incidents that expose the hypocrisy, greed, and gullibility of Moscow's literary and theatrical elite.

Parallel to the mayhem caused by Woland is the touching love story of the Master and Margarita. The Master, a writer broken by the despair and censorship of his times, has written a novel about Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who sentenced Jesus to crucifixion. Margarita, deeply in love with the Master, makes a Faustian bargain with Woland to be reunited with him.

Interwoven through the narrative is the story of Pontius Pilate, as written by the Master. This subplot provides a reflective, philosophical contrast to the satirical main plot, exploring themes of power, guilt, and redemption.

The novel explores moral and ethical questions by depicting Woland (Satan), who, despite his role, often acts more justly than the corrupt mortals.

Characters struggle with their fate, especially in a repressive society. The Master's resignation to despair contrasts with Margarita's active shaping of her destiny.

The Master's plight reflects the challenges artists face under oppressive regimes, highlighting issues of artistic integrity and the power of art to transcend temporal constraints.

Bulgakov's narrative is complex and juicy, blending fantasy, romance, and political satire elements. His tone varies from darkly humorous to deeply philosophical, often intermingling the surreal with the brutally realistic.

The Master and Margarita is a novel that critiques a hypocritical and authoritarian society and is very close to our ways of perceiving and experiencing the world. It has been one of my all-time favourites, and I return to it almost every year.

Get it from Apple Books or Amazon.

Quote of the week

“He who never hurries is always on time.”

— Mikhail Bulgakov