Rob Schlaff's Website

My Blog

I collect stories. There are so many amazing things happening every day. I need to spend some time writing them down before they slip away. Some of these ideas are so powerful that they hit me like a bolt of lightning. It’s my job to capture that lighting and put it in a bottle to share it with you. I want to capture that feeling that Archimedes had when he had an insight sitting in the bathtub screamed “Eureka!” and ran naked down the street. I know that I’ll rarely if ever make it there, but that won’t keep me from trying!

Here’s some of my latest posts:

• Digging Up My Pandemic Time Capsule
• Neal.fun and Password Games
• The Truth Will Set You Free—But It Might Make the World More Boring
• How I Broke My Ankle, As Told By Familiar TV Characters
• Neal.fun: The Internet’s Creative Playground

And here are some of my posts about AI and ChatGPT:

• How I Broke My Ankle, As Told By Familiar TV Characters
• Are You Struggling with SQL? AI Can Give You Analytics Superpowers
• The Power of the Written Word
• Why ChatGPT Didn’t Brush Its Teeth
• The Day the Turing Test Died: Examining the “Humanity” of AI

Blog Highlights

Here are some highlights from 2024

One of my favorite topics for the last few years is writing about AI. I explored it from a number of different perspectives:

• Exploring ChatGPT’s “Mind”:  I wrote about how ChatGPT seems to “think” in a way oddly similar to humans. I also also explored how good AI is at pretending that it’s human, and how it “feels” about the deception. On a lighter note, I let ChatGPT channel the imagination of a 7-year-old to create playful excuses for not brushing its teeth—showing a concerned mom how her child wasn’t lying about not brushing her teeth, just confabulating.
• Some Ways I’ve Used ChatGPT: I turned it into a museum tour guide and used it as an illustrator for my blog posts.
• How ChatGPT Differs from Standard Computing: I investigated how ChatGPT reframes basic computing concepts, like exploring how small I can compress an idea and examining how AI security combines computer security and social engineering.
• Letting ChatGPT Just Be Itself: Sometimes, I just let ChatGPT have fun, whether bragging about its facility with words compared to mere mortals or when it waxes philosophical about how it will be central to everyone’s future lives.

ChatGPT has helped me quickly turn ideas into complete blog posts and respond in real-time to things I’ve encountered. This year, it made it easier to explore a range of interesting topics like:

• Walking through the office cafeteria, I noticed a new brand of iced tea that bore a striking resemblance to Honest Tea. Curious, I did some quick research and discovered that after Coca-Cola discontinued Honest Tea, its founders recreated the brand as Just Ice Tea.
• Another time, while listening to the Acquired podcast, I was struck by how Howard Schultz, uniquely among corporate leaders, does not want his company, Starbucks, to be a tech company.
• I also explored how large drugstore chains, once considered untouchable by online retailers, are now being driven out of business by Amazon.

With ChatGPT, I learned to capture the small, wonderful moments of my life in writing. It’s like catching a lightning bug in a jar—preserving fleeting beauty to reflect on later. I was able to write about appreciating the sunrise, visiting a classic movie theatre owned by Netflix, and how to turn a nighttime drive into a light show.

Finally, I spent some time writing about self-improvement. Some of my favorite pieces were about the importance of asking for help and practicing self-control. Surprisingly, I even learned a valuable lesson about communication from AI—it’s programmed to respond with honesty, helpfulness, and harmlessness, qualities we humans could aspire to as well.

My Virtual Library

I wanted a place to put all the stuff I think is awesome. Growing up, I always wanted to have a great library in my house. I remembered the excitement when I learned that I could buy the entire collection of The New Yorker in bound volumes and put them in my house. I’d imagined that I would collect great encyclopedias from the past to peruse whenever I pleased. They would live in mahogany bookcases that looked like they’d belonged to JP Morgan. Then I realized that a New York City apartment doesn’t have the space for a physical library. So I did the next best thing. I’ve created a virtual library that includes lots of the things I enjoy, like my favorite books, words, and humor. You can check it out on the menu at the top of the page.