3. Burrata

After discussing Sam Altman, OpenAI , and the AI driven future they want to create for weeks and weeks, culminating in the POAS research paper,  I wanted to share some of my thoughts. One of the things I noticed was how Sam Altman and other technological leaders all believe that AI will take over most people's jobs soon. However, I cannot help but question how much it comes from business motives. If they spread the belief that AI is revolutionary, it is easier to sell the product to as many people as possible. The people who agree with this vision are called “ AI evangelists ” and try to convince others that AI will change the world.  There is more extreme concern throughout the industry from AI safety professionals that when AI becomes Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), it will be too smart, and not be aligned with human values, and we will all die. Is this possible? Perhaps, but I think it is very, very unlikely because current models lack agency and do not have self di...

  Jaycee Snelson Week 12: Dinner Thoughts Last week I attended a dinner/yearly meeting for the 100 club with my dad. Because my dad works for the city he tends to go to these types of events a lot. I enjoy going to these events with him as much as I can because it's an excuse to dress up more formally than the great walls of American High School allow and I find it really interesting to listen to other active members of the community.  Most of the time, at these events, I tend to be a fly on the wall, just trying to keep up with the “adult” conversations going on around me, while my dad is making small talk and introducing me to everyone. However, this time we were at an event where me and my dad were on slightly more even playing fields. Instead of my dad knowing half the room, as he often seems to do, he only knew a handful of people and seemed to be trying to navigate through this dinner just like me.  As the night goes on, we end up finding an empty spot at this table...

When I first signed up for Sculpture & Ceramics during course requests last year, I thought that I would suck at it. Yes, I’ve taken art classes before (as we all might have at one point in our life), but that was years and years ago. Even now, the highest level of art of mine is tracing pictures off of my laptop screen.  I chose this class because although I had taken IED in freshman year, the art credit ended up being invalid, so I needed some type of art class to get that F credit. Art 1? No way. I can barely draw a tree. Digital Photography? Nope. All I can think of are all the times when my sister would get frustrated at me for taking bad pictures of her. And so I landed on Sculpture & Ceramics. I’ve always wanted to try to work with clay. There’s so much freedom involved with it, since you can mold and shape it any which way you like. We’ve all seen those videos of potters using the wheel and making it look so easy, simply urging the clay to move in the way that they...

Met a senior recently? The ones I’ve seen keep crying about the stock market simulation that many of them were assigned in AP Econ (apparently it’s worth 500 points??). The goal is to perform better than the S&P 500, which basically tracks the performance of the top 500 companies on stock exchanges in the US, and a bunch of the people I’ve talked to (or at least the ones who’ve complained about it to me—is there a correlation there?:) are finding it hard to even make a profit, let alone beat the S&P 500.  Even still, the stock market and other forms of investing (bonds, etc.) remain one of the best ways to earn financial freedom at one point or another during one’s life, especially when one is employed. It isn’t easy to retire off of savings alone, because even if you save your money in a high-yield savings account, the rate of inflation usually beats whatever rate the bank you use offers, leaving you with less valuable money overall, kind of like a dollar being much less v...

Living in the era of technology, we’ve all heard about the pros and cons of social media. Even though it does promote self expression and communication on an accessible platform, new aspects such as anonymity and fear mongering seem to also become a rising issue in the media… and so on and so on. It seems redundant at this point, but perhaps what the adults are telling us does not accurately evaluate the extent of social media in influencing the youth. Social media’s influence is so prevalent, and sometimes we don’t realize how truly powerful it can be, whether good or bad.  A lot of the stories of how people become viral are the same. One night, you were debating whether to hit the big red button written “post” on a random video you made for fun. Well, it didn’t really matter anyways, you told yourself. You post it anyways, ignorant of how people would react because it’s just one small post, right? The next night, your phone is flooded with messages and likes. That sounds like a c...

A few days ago, I sat down in front of my laptop to see what the hype around Alysa Liu has been all about. I’d heard her name come up a few times in my day-to-day life, and as someone who has little interest in figure skating, I was interested in finding out how she had become a household name. As I watched her iconic free skate , set to Donna Summer’s 1978 hit “MacArthur Park,” I was entranced by the way Liu moved, like water rippling through air. I could feel the exhilaration in every move she made, the way that each step and choreographic sequence flowed through time as if it were naturally ordained. The joy on her face from doing what she loved was palpable and infectious, and a wide, breathless grin inevitably spread on my face as I watched her move. This performance was revolutionary to me—for the longest time, I possessed this view of figure skating as a restrictive, controlling discipline, especially following the women’s singles scandals during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic...

 The most treasured item in my backpack is my pencil bag. It holds my best school supplies which I use every single day: the Uni Alpha Gel, Sakura Arch Foam , and more. Each item in this bag was selected deliberately, with attention to smoothness, life cycle, and vibrance. My obsession started in eighth grade, thanks to a classmate. She was an avid consumer of Japanese stationery, which essentially meant that she would go through different supplies every week. Sometimes, she would give one of those supplies to me, and as my taste for overengineered items increased, I began to yearn for a life beyond Walmart pencils. In the second semester of eighth grade, I ditched my boring stationery for a green Angoo pencil pouch with SIX pockets and EIGHT pen holders–thus began my extensive journey to fill these many storage compartments. Over the years, I have created a near-perfect collection of highlighters, pens, whiteout, sticky tabs, and pencil lead. It is a true pleasure to open my pen...

It’s undeniable that being a leader automatically comes with great power. You’re given, to some extent, power over the actions of the people you lead. With this power comes great responsibility—you have to focus on growth and improvement, prioritizing everyone’s success over your own goals. The foremost duty of a leader is to utilize the influence they have on the people they lead to uplift them—that is the responsibility that Uncle Ben tells Peter about. As someone who has been a captain of American High School’s color guard for what will be four seasons by the end of March, this responsibility defines what I do during rehearsals. My primary role is teaching people and helping them improve their skills—not only for their personal benefit, but also for the success of the entire group at competitions. How I use my power as a captain directly correlates to how much everyone enjoys their experience, and how much we can accomplish together. Recently, a friend of mine in color guard gave my...

Last weekend, I watched the SuperBowl and I recently realized that everything I did was based on the collective emotions of my group. Whenever my friends cheered or booed, I also reacted in the exact same way even though I did not think at all in that moment; it was all instinct. The most impactful decisions often stem from emotion. Emotion acts as a human survival instinct and ensures the decisions we make will lead to the highest likelihood of survival.  My favorite childhood shows always told me that my emotions are special, intricate, and are perfectly suited for me. But in reality, before even thinking, our brains emit neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin to steer us towards learning from our behaviors and choose the one that gives us the most feelings of happiness. These chemicals are powerful signals that shape our behaviors before we are even aware of them.  The novel, The Crucible by Arthur Miller explained how emotions can easily be used against the individ...

I hate to break it to you, but humans…talk! By nature, we’re all social beings, which is why we crave companionship, fulfilling friendships, and overall refreshing relationships that help us feel happier after a long day including (say for example) a potential test on a play called The Crucible. Yes, some of us are definitely more introverted than others, but that doesn’t mean we don’t open up with our closest friends, and definitely not that we don’t communicate at all: what separates us from other species is our ability to form complex thoughts and then communicate those to others. Many animals, like elephants, whales or great apes have decently developed cognitive and social skills, but what separates us is abstract thought and the communication of that through complex language. Then, wouldn’t it be true that complex language and by extension communication skills are powers for us? Well, for some. Getting up to speak in front of hundreds of people can still be scary for us. Some peo...

  Jaycee Snelson Week 11: Dreams I don't know how much you have been watching the winter olympics but it is on 24/7 in my home and I have been watching it religiously. I especially love watching the figure skaters and this year I got really into curling. The more I watched, the more one ad stuck out to me. This ad showed multiple USA olympic athletes and explained how their dreams had gotten them here, the biggest honor for any athlete. Overall the ad was telling people to dream big and that they could do anything they put their mind to. I thought it was so interesting because it was showcasing the power of dreams and I agree with them but to an extent.  It's true that dreams can be a positive thing. It is a great motivator and really pushes the person to their full potential. In fact I would consider having and reaching for your dream is a great example of growth mindset, and I am learning in my Psychology class right now just how powerful a growth mindset can be. It connec...

Power in society is unfair. And whether that is a controversial take or not, I want you to think of one of the most powerful people you can think of. For me, I thought of Donald Trump or other world leaders, because they control the country so they must be the most powerful. But how do they acquire that power? There are two categories: people who get power because of their money, or people who get money because of their power. Regardless, the amount of wealth someone holds has a direct relation to how much power they have over others. There are not many cases of people who have loads of power but no money (there are still some exceptions!). Elon Musk is an example of the common theme. He’s now known as the richest man on earth, owning many major corporations: Tesla, X, SpaceX, and the list goes on. You could say he got his fame from his companies along with gaining authority from his close bond with the president, but I’m starting to recognize a pattern between some of the highest rega...

People say that laughter is the best medicine. And they are absolutely right.  Laughter can serve multiple purposes, and most of the time, they’re positive ones. Having a good laugh, the one that makes you feel like you’ve just gone to the gym and gained a six-pack, makes you feel like a kid again, cheerful and playful. You forget about everything else and instead focus on the piercing pain in your stomach that you want to go away so badly, but don’t at the same time. Sometimes, you don’t even know why you and your friend are laughing, but one look at each other, one whisper of an inside joke, and it starts all over again. Laughter has the power to wipe our minds of all sense and reason, and instead enjoy the moment. It unconsciously reminds us there’s no point in dwelling on the past and future constantly; you need to take the time to enjoy the present before it’s gone.  Then, there’s the kinds of laughs that make you cry. In my opinion, those are the most fun ones. Usually,...