Best Of
Re: The AI tsunami
I work in e-commerce and have for the last 8 years. One of the things I see that is already happening is replacement of customer service reps. Part of the issue with that is that CSR jobs have long been a foot-in-the-door into industries that often hire from within, allowing you to start in a CSR job and move up.
My husband started in a CSR roll taking phone calls for one of our state govt. offices. He now works in data analytics and makes recommendations to the governor's office. He wouldn't have that job without having had the CSR job first. He wouldn't have been qualified to apply for that job if it were listed separately, but he built the skills in this job by taking on projects and worked his way into the position.
The ability to do that is going to be much hampered by AI. We've had meetings with management of the company we use for our help desk, which is 75% of my work load. Which I found kind of funny to sit in a meeting where they encouraged us to sign up for a plan that would basically eliminate my job 😂 It would raise our monthly cost from about $50 to $350, but that's still less than I make. Thankfully I work for a very small family-owned business and have a great relationship with the owner/my boss. But if I were just one of 100 CSRs, and the higher ups saw the opportunity to reduce that by half with only a $300 a month increase? It's definitely happening.
karasti
Re: My Dharma practice today
Did my last goodliness from yesterday
https://universeodon.com/invite/J8ZvPdef
I liked in particular @Jeffrey effort. But all good.
Today:
- My new printer is definitely my Buddhist Master. I nearly threw it out with the impediments. Decided to persevere
- Had a very simple almost Japenese style luncheon. That too was my Master.
- My God! They Be everywhere... I knew IT.
- Meditated on the meaning of Death. That was good for a laff.
Must be time for a void coffee. Void of milk that is. And Void of caffeine (decaff only for lobsters
lobster
Re: Should a Buddhist own a gun ?
Although I live in a country with an astounding number of firearms, I personally do not own a firearm.
Some people own firearms as collector's pieces. They will never be fired except in rare safe displays and absolutely not on a living being.
I know individuals who have firearms who only use them on approved ranges.
I must point out that, in certain situations, even martial arts are potentially fatal.
Again, it matters not the potential weapon, gun, bow, club, rock, hand or foot. What matters is not the potential choice of weaponry, it is the mind set of the individual.
a knife to an assassin is a deadly weapon while a knife to a sushi chef is an indispensable tool. Archers were the field artillery until modern weaponry took over the battlefields.
Now, we have bow hunters and, while bows an arrows can be lethal, competitive and recreation target shooting are the prevailing uses. In Japan, archery is stylized and meditative in nature. Their ritual of the archery is the point, the target is an afterthought.
I could go on with various examples, but these will suffice.
Again, as a Buddhist, it is intent and mindset that matters, not the specific weapon. With the proper intent and mindset, weapons become not-weapons. Tool of death and destruction become tools of mending, healing, teaching.
Peace to All
Lionduck
Re: My Dharma practice today
I've been doing a mindfulness practice recently. It's maybe a little like Jon Kabbat Zinn's teaching of eating a raisin mindfully and appreciating all of the facets of the experience. And I've also read about mindful washing of dishes. Normally when I do tasks like laundry, dishes loading and unloading, or tidying I am thinking of how it is my task and I want to get it done. I think of it as a daily goal. And that is fine as it's fine to have goals and tasks. But I bring mindfulness by doing everything slowly and noticing more of what I am doing rather than thinking. So instead of being efficient I slowly bring a plate out of the dishwasher and heft it and slowly walk to the cupboard then slowly open the cupboard and notice what's inside as a slowly set down the dish.
Jeffrey
Re: My Dharma practice today
Yesterday, within the difficulties of poor sleep and anxiety/excitement due to moving, I practiced:
Right speech: especially with my mother. No need to take my troubles out on her. I screwed up once, but apologised, a.k.a. tried to make it right.
Not taking what is not given: my father gave me a small liquidity loan to pay for the movers. A small amount was left over. I typically might postpone paying him back until I 'feel like it' a.k.a. would not prioritise it highly. But I paid him back immediately, even though there was a lot of unpacking to do a.k.a. it slightly inconvenienced me.
Insight: I think it is safe to say that those around me would say that I already am moral/ethical. But when I look at the little things, there is so much room for improvement. And of course, when aggravated by negative emotion/thought, I too can be a vanilla asshole 😄
marcitko
Re: All Squares Are Rectangles...
It’s true that language has its limits. And it’s also true language can be twisted and utilized unskillfully or even maliciously. I think it all comes back to context and intention. Sometimes generalization or categorization is useful in a particular context. Taking the example of slavery and racism in the US. For two centuries, a group of people were the legal property of other people. The people considered as property were then freed, but the other people created new laws segregating them and preventing them from having equal rights. Eventually they became free of those laws as well, but were subsequently prevented from getting loans, buying certain homes, etc. There’s some easy ways to categorize these segments of the population to make it clear who each group is and which group had political and social power over the other. And we can say not all of one group agreed with the way things were and tried to change them. But if we’re intellectually honest, we’d also have a hard time time saying that those categorizations didn’t matter or have real consequences, especially when talking to someone who experienced those consequences firsthand.
It’s definitely admirable to judge each person by their actions, as well as viewing them as an individual rather than a stereotype or through a preprogrammed prejudice. But it’s also a skill to see patterns and privileges and injustices and the ways some groups benefit from the oppression of others in an effort to ameliorate that harm and imbalance.
Jason
Re: All Squares Are Rectangles...
Now that I am a bored again X-tian, a hypocrite claiming to be a vegan meat eater and one of them (as available) I can confirm:
A square is a masonic symbol (standing on the square) a them of white Cis-sers and elavated trousers and aprons. I quite like 'the-m'. Though would never join except...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Women_FreemasonsJesus is my Brain... eh 'Life of Brian' Halleluja! John 21:17 (off to get some lamb)
- As I have mentioned many times, we are not defined except by ourselves
lobster
Re: My Dharma practice today
I'll start:
Yesterday, I practised the precept of not taking what is not given.
I am moving house and the rented flat came with some old pots and pans, cutlery, glasses, and the like.
Instead of doing it half-assed, with the attitude that ultimately it does not matter much if an old butter knife is mine or of the flat, as long as I leave some behind, I put in a lot of effort to determine what is mine, and what came with the flat, for each item.
To me, since I slept poorly and was extremely busy with packing, that extra wholesome effort, counts as a win 
marcitko
Re: My Dharma practice today
- I am the Dharma Practice (and probably at least three other precious jewels)
- Went to my local libray to securely print out a page of text (10p) Was told off by the librarian and did not practice anything wrathful Buddha style
- Had a good Hotei style laugh over a cup of tea
- Fed our garden birds, compassionatley
- Helped one of my siblings (not too much - I am too humble to be thought of as good)
- Congratulated the Sun on excellent shining
- Posted usual extreme dharma and Zen tip on https://universeodon.com/home
...Oh wait have not done the last one yet.
Off to be a Busy-Bodhi 
lobster
My Dharma practice today
Dear everyone,
I thought it would be beneficial and encouraging for us to have a thread in which we could post our concrete, daily Dharma practice wins and activities.
General guidelines, at least from my perspective:
- Focus on wins. Mentioning "wins", in addition to activities, is intentional. Focusing on the wins and the progress, rather than the long distance ahead and how we fall short of our ideal, helps us get into a mindset of celebration, positivity, encouragement, determination, increased energy and commitment, etc. This promotes a positive feedback loop of further progress.
- No win or activity is too small. No win or activity, if done intentionally with wholesome intent, is "small" or "insignificant" or "not worthy of posting". Literally.
- Start where you are. The only person who can practice is us, as we are, now. There is literally no other place to practice. So, no one is too spiritually "behind" or "ahead" to not post their wins and activities. We all start where we are. Daily. Ours is a very large tent, inclusive of all aspiring to practice Dharma.
- Dharma practice is comprehensive. Finally, the idea is for this thread to be both about meditation but also all other aspects of Dharma practice.
- With comments to others, try to be encouraging. Maybe it's just me, but I get the feeling that we're all too self-critical already. Some say it's a "Western thing". Encouragement brings forth all of the aforementioned goodies: increased resolve, inspiration, determination, energy, a genuine desire to practice more, etc.
Whadyathink? Sounds good?
marcitko