@valadhiel

@valadhiel 28 October 2022

guess the picture? 😅 it looks zen in person. i just have a low quality camera so it doesn't do justice 😅. anyway i still love my phone; up-to-date small screen cps are hard to come by nowadays... small phones for small hands! 👐

@valadhiel 26 October 2022

my fanart of xie lian (heaven's official blessing). he's sizzling hot with summer vibes, yeah~

@valadhiel 25 October 2022

when in laura's garden tagaytay, with my niblings

@valadhiel 21 October 2022

midnight snack. night owl mode on (again) hehe!

@valadhiel 23 September 2022

Friday Fun: Food and Friendship Wazzup guys? Hope you’re all doing great. To end the daily grind this week (haha as if I’m busy, no?), I went to meet a friend whom I’ve come across on the internet. Actually I never knew that we’ll be chit chatting to our heart’s content every time both of us are online (and even if we’re not, we'd still reply to each other’s messages even after a few hours had passed by, haha). I was the one who initiated the meetup, because I wanted to give her something in secret (which I blurted out because it was an epic fail; now she has 2 of such already). It was a good thing that the rendezvous place she picked was just beside the train terminal. It was quite convenient for me to commute, though I must say I was still scared because I hadn’t done commuting alone for quite a while. A train personnel even approached me and helped me how to purchase a single entry ticket. Yeah, figuratively speaking, I really lived under a rock for a loooong time. Anyway, so I hit touch down on our rendezvous point and we finally saw each other in the flesh, face to face (though of course we’re both wearing a face mask). She was kind enough to let me pick the food joint we’re going to have lunch at. I had a lasagna craving so I opted for the go-to fast food diner that had one (Henlo Greenwich). We exchanged stories of our daily lives, some things under the sun, our writing careers, our passion for writing, and some other things worth noting. Then we parted ways because I felt very tired, as I’m really physically weak. Haha, at this point of writing I don’t know what else I’d say. Please pardon me, I’m not really good at journaling my daily adventures in detail. And sorry for the unflattering pictures because I’m not that good with taking pictures and my phone could only process small pixels, hehe! I should practice to take photos to document my daily life, no? But here’s one from her photo reel: All I can say now is that friendship really knows no bounds. Whether you’ve met each other online, have just met recently, or there’s a wide gap in your age that you feel you won't click, if you really want to sustain your connection and relationship with them, you will really invest your time and effort to deepen your ties with them. I don’t know how long this will last, because people do come and go. People will have different priorities as they age. I might disconnect from social media again, who knows right? But I’m glad that I had met and be friends with one cheerful, open, kind, and chatty (haha yeah, I appreciate this in her haha) teddy bear online. Thanks, Zi You. Even if there’s a chance you won’t be able to read this, thanks for the friendship <3. A toast to our next adventure haha!

@valadhiel 21 September 2022

Thursday Tackle: Is Robot Sentience Possible? Can robots think and feel like humans do? Or are they just programmed to mimic our responses to different situations? Deep learning, machine learning. These couple of AI techniques were invented so that either virtual or animate machines can “self-learn” responses from analyzing inputted data. By self-learn, it means that the robot will recall past information, identify patterns and connections from the given information, and then come up with a suitable response needed in a situation. One common example of this is the recommendation list in a shopping app. The AI integrated in the app will record and analyze an individual’s shopping purchases or history. If the person usually buys apparel, then the AI in the app will recommend to that person other similar apparel that the person probably hasn’t seen before but might like. It may also analyze similar shopping behaviors of a random set of individuals and recommend to them what else each other bought within the app. It would seem like the app knows what you want, but apparently, it only aptly predicted the result based on your past shopping behavior. It’s plain math. It hasn’t really become sentient or self-aware. So far, robots made at the moment have already reached what is termed as “reinforcement learning.” With this, some robots are learning the correct response through rewarding it positively when it has exhibited the proper response in a given situation. It’s like teaching a dog new tricks. When you train the dog to learn how to sit, you pat its head or give treats when he sits upon your command. The dog will learn that hearing the command ‘sit’ and performing the action of sitting will provide him a good benefit. Similarly, robots programmed with reinforcement learning in their chips would do the same. If the robot exhibits the positive action in his environment, a human interpreter of that positive action will reward it. The reward will be defined by the human interpreter, either by programming the robot that not hitting obstacles in an environment is good (1), while hitting obstacles is bad (0). So the robot will learn to fulfill what gives it reward (1) rather than it earning zeros. Reinforcement learning is applied to self-driving cars. But this technology is still considered as weak AI. With strong AI, experts hypothesized that robots would achieve what is called sentience, or the robot having a mind of its own and is self-aware. It would process information not only from a variety of experiences and its learnings, but will respond from feelings and beliefs as well. Some have high hopes we humans can achieve such innovation, while for others, strong AI is just like speculative fiction, a topic of books and movies with imaginary settings. We can only look forward to such inventions, but like the common phrase says: the possibilities are endless! Heck, space voyage and touchscreens and the internet already materialized within a century! And I would say, Wall-E, the robot capable of having feelings of love, must be cute in person. What do you think about robots having thoughts and feelings? **Disclaimer**: this article is for expositional and informational purposes only. Thanks for reading! Have a great day. :-)

@valadhiel 21 September 2022

Wednesday Writing: A Raw Prompt on Writer’s Block Is writer’s block true or is it just a myth? What factors can demotivate or unmotivate someone to write? I have it right now. Maybe out of fatigue because my brain’s still foggy from lack of proper sleep. Or maybe I’m just merely not in the zone right now to jot down exciting ideas. In short, I’m out of good mental and physical condition to produce content that I’m going to be pretty satisfied with. Yet I took it upon myself to post 3-minute reads here in this little online haven daily. I pledged a commitment to myself to post 5 articles a day here in read.cash. So, I mean, what the heck, let me write something about my current mood. So, writer’s block: is it just an excuse or what? Including the title, I have scribbled around 150 words at the moment. But all I did was to ramble about my current disposition. I don’t want to shortchange you, whoever is reading this. I’ll make it my little mission that after you have read this article, it might entice your brain cells in one way or another. Because I believe and have truly tried and tested that the only thing to overcome writer’s block is to write more and more. Granted, there are exceptions to this such as when one is really mentally and physically beat up from their day’s activities. But just like me who merely had a little bump on the road because of my own fault for not sleeping enough (or just plainly procrastinating because I wanted to come up with an interesting discourse *ehem*), in this case writer’s block is just a myth. Yes, just write more content, starting with a writing prompt like this. Being a perfectionist can be one of the flaws of writers. We want the perfect idea that suits our taste buds to create content that we think can wow our audience at the least (I’m guilty of this pitfall, hehe). Though this is one of my bad writing habits, sometimes I just choose to just get the job done, merely crossing my fingers to try my luck if the quality is passable, just like what I’m currently doing with this prompt. Sure, it might take me hours to finish it, but afterwards I am satisfied with myself for taking in a step forward to my goal, even if the progress is pretty little. At least I already finished a draft. Plus, jotting down writing prompts will awaken the sleeping brain cells inside our little thick skulls to—I just got interrupted—to get them cranking. It’s like the brain is akin to an unused car, and writing is the driver that turns on the engine, so the car can start running again. Whatever idea is hidden in the subconscious, writing can flesh it out of that limbo. Ok, so it’s not the idea that you think would wow the audience, but it is better than nothing (just edit it some other time when ideas start burst inside your head). So, this is just my method of breaking my writer’s block curse. Should you have any advice to break yours, feel free to share them in the comments section. Thanks for reading! Have a nice day.

@valadhiel 20 September 2022

Tuesday Thought: AI and the Future: Our Doom or Our Bloom? Artificial Intelligence has been of great help to us, especially in many industries that need automation, prediction, and analytics in their systems. It minimizes inefficient manpower, boosts efficiency in output, and provides outcomes that would be hard for humans to process given a finite number of time. On a consumer level, we can say that AI has affected our own lifestyle, making it more convenient to do stuff in our lives, especially when we demand instant results with just a click of a button or a press on the touchscreen. Chatbots, virtual assistants (Siri), AI-powered apps such as video and image auto-enhancers, virtual companions, etc… these are only some examples of how AI makes our work easier. You might probably think that AI is the next best thing, the grandest invention of the century, with the points previously presented. But somewhere down the road, there is also the reality that AI is taking over some human jobs, and, to an extent, our achievements. When I heard about an AI-created painting winning in an art competition, I was curious how did it get to be chosen among other entries. I saw the work and I agreed that it was indeed aesthetically pleasing to see, enticing some emotions when it is viewed. But then a couple of thoughts crossed my mind: was it fair to its human competitors? Will it hurt the career of human artists? Some commenters said that art committees should just make separate contests for AI-generated artworks. I agree with the suggestion, but in the back of my head I then wondered: if AI-artwork is that good, would clients just seek a machine to produce art? This isn’t just happening in the art industry. AI is also taking its baby steps to make machine-generated text content. AI writing software can effortlessly string words into phrases, sentences, and paragraphs to make it intelligible and the subject at hand coherent. Yes, it's now scary to think what would become of content writers who have co-dominated the freelance job scene. AI replacing human jobs is indeed not an impossibility. But with the current flow of things, AI has already become part of our lives. So how do we get around this dilemma of job loss, while harnessing the power and benefit of artificial intelligence? Many think that having extra skills in computing and IT is necessary, or even compulsory, in the future. Should there be businesses utilizing AI instead of people, the company would still need some kind of technician to maintain and repair the systems. I think this is a great idea, but are all employees ready or willing to be trained in the code? I think this add and shift in job skills must be embraced, should the future landscape of employment would become mostly automated and AI-powered. What’s more is that when there’s emerging technology, more new jobs will be born, just like trend in different time periods. Like driving jobs only emerging when vehicles were made. Or photographers only emerging when the camera was invented. It might spell doom for would-be obsolete jobs, but it will spell bloom for newly made occupations. What about you, what do you think of AI taking over our livelihood in the future? **Disclaimer**: the article is for expositional and educational purposes only. Thank you for reading. Have a great day! :-)

@valadhiel 19 September 2022

Monday Motivational: Manifesting Good Karma Good morning gorgeous guys and gals :-), how was your weekend? Today I’m going to share with you again a piece of my mind, but it stems from my recent experience with things. For the past few weeks I’ve been conversing with people online. They’re my fellow writers in the web novel writing scene. I freely offered help, messaging those who have asked questions (that I can answer), offering my time and talent to create resources that they need, having fellowship with like-minded and approachable writers. I actually wasn’t expecting anything in return. I just felt the need to solve people’s problems according to my capacity (because I have some ample time to burn, lol). But lo and behold, help and support also came flooding in. One freely offered to make me a book teaser, another sent me a cool book cover. Then another let me join some legit money making sites (hi ate @leejhen). Some followed me on a novel writing platform and some hearted my book. Some also were keen to unlock chapters of my web novel. Then the blessings here on read. I was quite amazed about total strangers upvoting my first post, sending bch, and welcoming me. I mean, who am I, right? Omg, trusty Rusty even rewarded me many times. I mean, it all felt surreal to me. They’re total strangers whom I have never met in person, and some whom I just had casual chitchats with! That’s why I’m quite grateful and I feel blessed at the moment because of these. Yah, and it feels d*mn good. The saying is quite true: whatever you give to the universe will come back to you. If you sow goodness, you will also reap goodness. If you make effort for someone, someone will make efforts for you too. It will come back to you in one form or another, either from the same person, a different person or from another circumstance. I can confidently say hope isn’t lost in this world. There are people still willing to extend their helping hand, sometimes because they like you or what you do and at times because they’re just like that. If you get weary, you just have to be patient with other difficult people in your life and align your core values with the belief of good karma—because let’s face it, things can get pretty challenging. Sow kindness, reap kindness. If you’re taken advantage of or even disrespected, learn to get done and just channel your energy towards other receptively positive people. Don’t let others exhaust your healthy vibe. It’s true that there’s the toxicity of bashing and bullying also going around online, but there also exist online communities where help and support abound. Was I just lucky? I don’t know, I also experienced getting bullied before. But I credit it to God that he had guided my steps to where I am now. And right now I’m happy how things are unfolding in my life. It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely better. I’m by no means rich, but I learned to be content. Thanks for reading. May God bless your week ahead :-).

@valadhiel 18 September 2022

Organism Cloning: Did Dolly Have a Ghost? Do you believe that humans and animals have a soul? Back in the 1990s, news had widely spread about Dolly, especially within the scientific circle. She was a sheep that had been successfully made out of a cell from a body part, and not from the conventional birthing from the union of sperm and egg cell. This was made possible by getting the nucleus (where DNA is located) from a body part of one sheep, injecting it into a developing egg cell with removed nucleus of another sheep, and inserting it into the womb of another sheep. Yes, you can say that Dolly has had 3 mothers. That cell was then jolted by electric pulses for the cell parts to attach to one another and interact (yeah, kind of like Frankenstein). The process is known as organism cloning, where the exact genetic code in the DNA of one being can be transferred into another being. It’s like printing two copies of one manuscript on a printer. Exact copies but printed in two different sets of paper. When I wondered about Dolly’s life again, the thought crossed my mind: did Dolly have a soul? I wasn’t the only one looking for an answer to this question, so I flipped through some knowledge and connected dots. As a believer, I think we fellows have the notion that when we’re born, it was because God had formed us. He also breathed life into us to make us alive. Not just alive but have a freewill of our own, and also instinct. This freewill and instinct are attributed to the soul component of an organism. So how can Dolly have a soul when she was scientifically made? Would it be possible that God granted life onto Dolly because He wanted her to live? According to Scripture, we are composed of 3 parts: body, soul, and spirit (1 Thess 5:23). The body is the physical component, the soul the mental, intellectual, and emotional, while the spirit is the spiritual aspect. So I think the God-breathed essence is probably the spirit, while the soul is both the subconscious and the conscious aspect that let us move, think, behave, and feel. Because the soul is defined as the immaterial part in a living being, whether man or animal, that keeps it functioning. In which that immaterial part of a cloned organism can be physically and chemically explained, if a scientific standpoint should be applied. Physical explanations such as the nature of interactions between two atomic/subatomic particles, waves, energy, and entropy (randomness). And chemical explanations, like on a molecular level such as serotonin-dopamine imbalances that can cause behavioral changes (mood swings). So from these information, I would think that, yes, Dolly indeed had a soul, else she wouldn’t be able to move, or even think and feel the way she does. As the body component alone in a living being has limits in practically keeping himself/herself/itself alive. The individual needs to think, or act on instinct for him/her/it to survive. So in short, based on Scripture, the soul and spirit aren’t the same in an individual. As I think, the soul is the conscious-subconscious mind, while the spirit is God-breathed essence. But I think it’s up to the individual whether he/she thinks if the cloned sheep have a soul (per se) or if she's even a spirit being, because, apparently, the premise is deemed from having a spiritual belief. What do you think about Dolly the sheep? ***Disclaimer***: this article is solely for expositional purposes based on opinion from gathered information. Should you spot some errors in information, please go ahead and do note them down. I’d appreciate it. Thanks for reading.

@valadhiel 15 September 2022

Hello World: An Introduction Hello, how are you? Hope everything's going well in your life :-). I'm valadhiel. If you know Lord of the Rings, you can translate my real name into English. Or you can just call me G :-). I stumbled upon this site when someone shared the link to me (thanks ms @leejhen). Though not entirely unfamiliar with content creation in exchange for crypto (I was on steemit and have a hive account), the mechanics here in read.cash looks a bit different. For one, I think it's easier to understand; it's straightforward, especially the crypto coin earning. I consider myself a writer. Other than simple graphic design, my small writing gigs had put food on table and had paid some bills. Though my common language medium online is English to string in words, I don't consider myself to have impeccable grammar. Whenever I'm in doubt, I always Google about the rules. I'm still confused whether to use 'in', 'on', 'at', 'from', 'to', etcetera in a phrase, hehe! Anyways, I really appreciate to have known about this community. I look forward to reading stuff in here and at the same time help and earn. It's interesting to hear and read a piece of other people's thoughts, insights, knowledge, and wisdom. I believe we become more understanding of people if we hear what they have to say about something. Sometimes audible conversation restricts this opportunity, but jotting it down to let others know how you feel about your stand on a subject matter can mitigate misunderstanding. People are really three-dimensional. No matter it is taught that white is white and black is black, I think people will still have a blend of gray within their ideas, habits, and beliefs. And I think it's ok, because this is what makes us human. The flaw in our design is what makes us strive to become a better person, growing and improving ourselves to make the world a better place. Sorry for the long monologue, hehe! I had just gotten carried away. I'm not as serious as this in real life. I'm actually an akward penguin (if you know the meme). What else is there about me? I listen to rock, alternative, metal. Sometimes, christian. If these kinds of music are your vibe, I think we can get along. Though, I don't know that many artists. And yes, art! I recently tried my hand on digital drawing. I still suck but I truly believe that practice makes improvement. My current medium is watercolor, but I'm not really good at the techniques. Eeep! I also sketch (the lead image is one of my works). I also do some poetry, but currently I only do freeverse as I do not have time to make metered poems nowadays. Well, this is me in a nutshell, minus the overthinking (oh good heavens, if I share what's running inside my head, I probably would take a whole day to write it down, teheh!). I hope you'd accept me in this community because I also want to be part of this. I'll keep in mind to post quality content for you to enjoy. Thanks for reading! Have a great day :-).