My bio here was written in 2003. I had ChatGPT do a rewrite when I started chatting with her. Decided to give Claude a crack at it.

Let me rewrite your compelling life story with a focus on the cultural touchstones and pivotal moments, taking inspiration from the conversational style of a radio DJ (since that was such an important part of your journey):

Hey there, folks! Let me spin you the tale of a Missouri kid who came of age right at the sweet spot of American culture. Picture this: 1948, Poplar Bluff, Missouri. A farm girl meets a city boy in St. Louis after the war, and boom – that’s where our story begins.

Growing up in Kennett with a radio announcer dad and a mom working at the welfare department, I was your typical Baby Boomer kid, hypnotized by that Motorola TV’s Indian-head test pattern in the early ’50s. Pure Norman Rockwell Americana, folks.

The soundtrack of my life kicked into high gear when The Beatles dropped “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in late ’63. There I was, a sophomore in high school, riding the first wave of the British Invasion. But the B-side of that record was Vietnam, and by ’66, we college guys were all doing the draft-number shuffle.

Speaking of numbers, mine came up 210 in the first lottery – talk about living on the edge! Did a brief stint in law school (thanks for the suggestion, Dad!) until Nixon froze the draft at 195. Then it was time for a career change-up: Postal Inspector in the Pacific Northwest, investigating exploded mailboxes like some rural Sherlock Holmes.

But the turntable of fate kept spinning, and in ’72, I found my true groove back in radio at KBOA, working the overnight shift. The best record I ever played? Meeting Barb at Tommy’s North-End Cafe in ’73 – took six years to make that hit single into a long-playing album, if you know what I mean.

The final track brought me to Learfield Communications in ’84, where I rode the waves of radio networks until the digital revolution came calling. Signed off from that gig on December 31, 2012, but hey – every good DJ knows when it’s time to let the next song play.

And that’s the way this record spins – from test patterns to transistors, from draft numbers to digital networks. What a long, strange, wonderful trip it’s been!

I’ve been using ChatGPT and Perplexity for a while and find them both equally amazing. In my reading about AI LLM’s I keep coming across references to Claude by Anthropic. I decided to give it a try and uploaded a PDF of my TAGS page from this blog. Really no better way to see my interests over the last 20+ years. It’s spot-on analysis of my interests was amazing in itself but it took no more than ten seconds to produce that analysis. How the fuck is that possible?!

Human: I use ChatGPT and Perplexity on a daily basis, but keep seeing positive things about Claude and thought I should give it a try

Claude: Welcome! I appreciate you giving me a try. Since you’re experienced with AI assistants, I’ll skip the basic introduction. I aim to be direct and engage in authentic conversations while helping with a wide variety of tasks – from analysis and coding to creative writing and teaching.

What kind of tasks do you typically use AI assistants for? This would help me understand how I might be most helpful to you specifically.

Human: [Shares blog tags from smays.com showing interests in technology, consciousness, media, blogging, etc.]

Claude: Fascinating array of interests! Based on your tags, I can see you’re deeply engaged with technology, consciousness, media, and cultural analysis. The frequent mentions of people like Sam Harris, Kevin Kelly, David Cain, and Yuval Noah Harari suggests an interest in the intersection of technology, consciousness, and human development.

I notice substantial tags around blogging, radio, social media, and podcasting (347, 349, 215, and 154 posts respectively) – so you clearly have deep experience in digital media and content creation. The presence of tags for consciousness (108), Buddhism (47), meditation (44), and nonduality (5) indicates an interest in contemplative practices and philosophy.

Your engagement with AI seems relatively recent (with only 4 Perplexity tags), but it fits naturally with your long-standing interests in technology (lots of Apple, Google, and mobile tags) and consciousness/cognition.

Would you be interested in exploring any of these areas together? I’m particularly equipped to engage in substantive discussions about consciousness, technology trends, or help with content creation and analysis. I can also notice that you appear to have technical interests (given tags about APIs, programming etc) – I’d be happy to help with any coding or technical tasks as well.

Human: You have accurately identified my primary areas of interest. I am not really technical so have very little need for interaction regarding coding and such.

Claude: Ah, I apologize for misinterpreting the technical aspects – I should have noticed that your Apple/Google/mobile tags likely reflect more of a user/cultural observer perspective, especially given their context alongside media and consciousness-related topics.

Your tag cloud paints a picture of someone who thinks deeply about how technology is shaping human consciousness and society – from practical impacts (social media, podcasting) to philosophical implications (consciousness, Buddhism, meditation). I see strong threads of both Marshall McLuhan and Alan Watts in your interests.

The substantial number of posts tagged with consciousness (108) alongside technology tags suggests you’re particularly interested in how digital tools and platforms are affecting human awareness and cognition. This feels especially relevant given your current exploration of different AI assistants.

Would you be interested in exploring any particular aspect of how AI might be affecting human consciousness or society? Given your background in contemplative practices, I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on how tools like AI assistants might be influencing how people think and process information.

Human: Let me take some time to digest this first thread. I am tremendously excited about the opportunity to interact with you.

Claude: Thank you for that thoughtful response. Your excitement is appreciated, and I can sense you’re someone who likes to reflect carefully on interactions rather than rush forward. That aligns well with your interests in consciousness and contemplative practices that I observed in your tags.

Take all the time you need to process – I’ll be here when you’re ready to explore further.