Tag: Seneca

I own Napoleon Hill’s head.

Not the actual one he carried on his shoulders, but one I had custom made based on his portraits.

It’s a sculpture.

Napoleon Hill of “Think and Grow Rich” fame taught that you could discover wisdom by getting advice from “invisible allies.”

Well, Hill is one of my advisors.

But he passed away in 1970.

Now, with his head on my desk, I can have a 3-d experience of chatting with him.

It makes him a lot more real.

It makes our “conversations” a lot more real.

I gave one to Don Green, President of the Napoleon Hill Foundation.

I also gave one to Cliona O’Hara, CEO of Napoleon Hill Institute.

I gave yet another to Russell Brunson.

Why is a bust of a leader so important?

I have heads of Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Emerson, Twain and other giants.

I have signed photos and books by others who have influenced me, from Jack London and Jack Dempsey to Harry Houdini, Yogananda, and P.T. Barnum.

All of this is to help me stay inspired, motivated, and curious.

All of it makes the now deceased greats seem alive to me.

What do you do to communicate with the legends?

Who do you communicate with?

Ao Akua,

Dr Joe Vitale

PS – You can have a Hill bust, too. The original sculpture of Napoleon Hill is by https://www.justusmonuments.com/product-page/napoleon-hill-bust-copies

As you know – if you’ve been following this blog – I’ve been testing ChatGPT. I’m not overly impressed yet but it did help me create a cool e-book that I put on Amazon.

Basically I had the AI program write a dialogue between Seneca and Epicurus, two philosophers who never met in real life, in response to my sincere questions.

I thought the results were impressive. They were surprising, in-depth, useful, and seemed authentic.

You can find the e-book on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Pursuit-Tranquility-Secret-Dialogues-Epicurus-ebook/dp/B0C41253F8/

Enjoy.

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS – I wrote this blog post, not AI.

Thoughtline was an early “ChatGPT” AI program back in the 1990s.

It was based on the DOS system of the time and came on a disk.

I loved it.

I wrote about it in my book, Hypnotic Writing, because it was the first product I sold as a copywriter and direct marketer that actually made money for me.

I used it to help me think through articles, book chapters and even outlines for speaking gigs.

It was fun, stimulating, practical, and surreal.

It often felt almost human, like a real person was behind the system.

Of course, it also often felt clumsy, limited, and somewhat predictable.

But that was in the last century.

What about today?

I wanted to know how the current AI (Artificial Intelligence) programs are working to help us in 2023.

I wrote about ChatGPT last month.

I wasn’t impressed.

But I tested ChatGPT again.

I asked for a book recommendation.

I love reading about publicity stunts and outrageous publicists, especially those who came out of old Hollywood.

I have a collection of books by and about these flamboyant people, and of course I wrote a book on one of them (P.T. Barnum), but I wondered if there was something I might have missed.

So I asked ChatGPT for suggestions.

ChatGPT (3.5) surprised me.

It gave me several titles including, “Flack: True Tales from the Hollywood Trenches” by Dylan Landis.

I never heard of it.

I got excited.

I wanted to read it.

I looked on Amazon.

Nothing.

I looked on eBay.

Nothing.

I searched my favorite rare book sites.

Nothing.

I prompted for more info.

ChatGPT stood its ground: “The book was published in 2018.” 

I took that added information and dug deeper.

Still nothing.

I’m a book collector.

I can find rare books.

Why couldn’t I find this one?

I prompted ChatGPT yet again.

It apologized.

“I apologize for the confusion earlier. Upon double checking, I realized that I made an error in my previous response.”

The book doesn’t exist.

It doesn’t exist!?

Why would the system offer a book that doesn’t exist?

Use ChatGPT for fun but beware of using it for facts.

I posted an abbreviated version of this blog on my FB profile. One person said they were using ChatGPT to research legal cases and discovered many of the cases weren’t real.

Enjoy ChatGPT but don’t trust it.

For the record, when the fourth version of ChatGPT showed up last month, I tested it, too.

I was told it was far more accurate.

I was told to be clear in my prompts so the AI system could be clear in its answers.

I Tested 4.0

I asked for a few nonfiction books about famous songs and how they were written, in particular the classic song, “Smile.”

I knew Charlie Chaplin wrote the melody for a film of his called Modern Times. Decades later the lyrics were added by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons.

The result was the classic song everyone knows and the legends sing. (Even I recorded it on one of my singer-songwriter albums.)

But I wanted to know more.

Was there a history to the song?

Was there a book about it?

So I asked the wizard for a suggestion.

ChatGPT4 replied –

“Smile: The Story of Charlie Chaplin’s Lost Classic” by David Gritten.

I went bananas.

THAT’S the book I wanted to read!

It sounded perfect.

So I went on my book search and – you guessed it – it doesn’t exist.

ChaptGPT4 made it up.

When I pushed back, the system again said –

“I apologize for the confusion. It appears there isn’t a book titled that.”

SIGH.

Again, don’t trust ChaptGPT, even the latest version is prone to writing fiction.

And since it seems like it wants to write creative material, I thought I would test it on writing a song.

So I went to ChatGPT-4 and prompted with this:

What do you think?

Is it good?

Well, it’s a song.

It’s not a great song.

It needs tweaked and polished.

But it’s actually a workable song, or at least the beginning of one.

So ChaptGPT wins points.

But.

Don’t turn off your brain.

Don’t surrender your awareness and discernment.

Don’t drop your common sense.

The system is probably great for brainstorming projects, but if you allow it to do your thinking, creating and writing, you may find yourself with passive writing, mediocre products, inaccurate info, and potentially in court.

Have fun with it.

After all, not having a book about the song Smile means I could potentially write one.

And the beginning of a song about our dog Cabi gives me something to work with.

So I can thank the system for those ideas.

But let’s test the system one more time.

Some people claim ChatGPT can write sales letters, ads, and other marketing materials.

Well, can it?

I again went to ChatGPT-4 and made a clear request:

What do you think?

Is that a good sales letter?

Are you sure?

One of the problems with using ChatGPT is knowing whether what it writes for you is actually any good or not.

How would you know if you don’t have the experience to recognize excellence or mediocrity?

Again, what do you think of the sales letter?

Here’s what I think:

It’s a very good letter.

It has all the key elements of a persuasive letter.

But it’s not a great letter.

It has lies, half truths, and misleading content.

There aren’t any step by step guidelines in the book.

Those testimonials in the letter are all fictional.

Like the song for Cabi, the letter is a good start. You can take it and work with it. It might save you time and trouble by giving you material to review rather than a blank page to stare at.

But don’t give it your mind.

Let’s do one more test.

I created a mental time travel program last year that helps people travel to the past to sit at the feet of some legend of long ago.

They can then ask questions, gain insights, and more.

I wondered what Seneca and Epicurus – representing two rival schools of thought – would discuss if they ever met.

Being a fictional scene, and AI seems to shine writing fiction, I thought this might yield interesting results.

So I went to ChatGPT-4 and prompted:

Well, what do you think?

I’ve studied both Seneca and Epicurus.

I’ve collected and read their ancient writings.

I find the fictional dialogue above illuminating and accurate.

But since I’m not an expert on Stoicism or Epicurism, I can’t say if the dialogue is 100% accurate or not.

Still, it’s a good beginning to a possible book, play, or movie.

If I wanted to, I could develop the dialogue (with AI’s help and my discernment) into a product.

With that in mind, I give ChaptGPT more points.

It impressed me and gave me something I didn’t have: a good start to my idea.

I’d be wary of just taking what it writes and running with it. It could be considered plagirism; after all, the program is pulling from existing content and allegedly creating new content from it.

But is it?

Turns out plagiarism is a potential issue with anything ChaptGPT “creates.”

There’s a program online you can use to check content.

You can check it out here.

Bottom line for me:

Use ChaptGPT for fun, as a kick starting device, for first drafts, but do not turn over your ability to reason, rewrite, or reject what it gives to you.

You’re smarter than it.

Right?

(Note: I wrote this post not ChatGPT.)

Expect Miracles.

Ao Akua,

Dr Joe Vitale

My latest book releases this month. It’s “Unexpected Kindness.”

Then I realized it was a book.

I named the book “Unexpected Kindness.”

Dr Joe

PS – Why not do an “Unexpected Kindness” for someone right now?

I love quotes.

A good one liner can awaken you, entertain you, educate you, and more.

One of my recent favorites was written centuries ago.

Seneca (the ancient Stoic who who wrote letters and essays to help us today) left us this juicy tidbit –

“It’s all in your head. You have the power to make things seem hard or easy or even amusing. The choice is yours.”

At first glance you may not grasp the power in his statement.

It’s a reminder that you have a choice about how you see your life.

Whatever you are going through right now can be seen in at least three different ways.

Most of us let the default “It’s hard” run us.

We don’t feel very inspired or empowered with that view.

Life sucks.

But what if you changed it to “It’s easy”?

We can now move to a clearer place, see our options, and maybe even enjoy the process.

Life rocks.

And what about — dare I say it – “It’s amusing”?

Amusing?

What you are going through can be amusing?

Seneca didn’t say it WAS amusing, he said you could make it SEEM amusing.

Big difference.

Again, it’s all about how you choose your perception.

To understand this quote, as well as how to thrive in troubled times, please go see —

https://www.drjoevitalezerolimits.com/loa-go

Expect Miracles.

Ao Akua,

Dr Joe

PS – Remember, if you want weekly inspiration, see my new e-TV show. It’s on Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, LuxeTV app, or just head over to

https://www.joevitale.com/zero-limits-living-tv