HOW IT WAS.

Compiled from my previous Facebook posts. 

I used to work as data analyst. With so much raw info and stat numbers on my files, I wondered, what if a machine was invented for this purpose. I’d lose a job but then "data analysis" would be faster. And so now we have AI, which is supposed to expand "human" abilities. Problem is AI injects its subjective take on “big data” so analysis now seems biased, self-righteous, “political.” I want it the way it was. Flawed and imperfect but human. Meanwhile, data then invited discourse and healthy deliberations. These days, data handed by AI, seems/s to say, this is it, don’t think, just take it. 📜📋📃

New York City Subway. What fascinates me the most in my decades of life in America–is NYC’s subway. Here, I mix with and engage the world’s diversity in random, curious energy. All ethnicities, social standing, shapes, makes, and whatevers. The E Train and 7th Train are my frequent, favorite rides. I even slept in there or spent hours, just observing humanity, taking down notes. 🗽🚉🗽

Those days. San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury of the 1960s. Manila’s Luneta Park of the 1980s. Diverse crowd on a peaceful vibe. Discussions of issues, instinctively moderated in civility. I formed the Traveling Bonfires in/around the same sublimity. We were rockin’. Then times changed. These days, I get paranoid. Random gun violence. A park bench “conversation” is mostly anchored on Left/Right caterwaul. Too much hate. 👥☮️🫂

When I was a boy, I used to hang a lot in barber shops. I played chess while I listened to old folk/s banter, heckle, joke, and share stuff about anything at all: Price of kilo of rice and gasoline, new movies, Hollywood, grandkids, dinner tonight, cycling (“Tour of Luzon”) and basketball, political corruption, America and England, anything. Cool conversations. No insults. Primal “rules” of civility were observed. “Common sense” community vibe. 👥🏘🫂

Bonfires. Village tradition. After a day in the farm or a week in the sea, rural folk would gather before the fire, rotate homecrafted liquor and fish/meat ceviche. Talk about stuff: Day's harvest and catch, politics and sports, lotsa jokes. Music via guitar and harmonica, in between. No unfriending. As we “willingly” isolate ourselves via e-gadgets and distance us per political self-righteousness, the light and warmth of bonfires have become more imperative. 👥🔥🫂

When I was growing up, there was always an outdoor kitchen besides the indoor kitchen. Cooking and dining. I miss those days. Outside, it was a clay oven or firewood stove. The wok crackled with onions, garlic and tomatoes were sauteed or fish was fried in coconut oil. The breeze would touch your skin and the chirping of birds fluttered in the air. Transistor radio played rock `n roll sweetness. The scent and aroma of dinner royale embraced my soul. 🍲🔥🥘

Powered by gasoline or electricity, public transportation should be a government priority. 80-90 percent of cars' environmental impact comes from fuel consumption and emissions of air pollution and greenhouse gas. In 1990, there were 500 million cars, globally. These days: 1.474 billion. Sans impact on Earth’s life, claustrophobic isolation was my issue while in a car. In buses and jeepneys, I see people, I breathe with people. I exist/ed. 🚕🚌🚕

Visual credits: Call Centre Helper. Blake Farms.