The Long Silence and The New Noise
It has been seven years since I last posted here. July 28, 2018, to be exact. I wrote a review of a movie called The Breadwinner, hit “Publish,” and essentially walked out of the room. I didn’t intend to leave; I just got busy.
The Gap Life has a way of filling the vacuum. In those seven years, the “Technoverse” didn’t stop, and neither did I. I went from being a “Recovering CIO” to a full-time academic administrator. I spent years as a Department Chair at UMGC, navigating the chaos of the pandemic, managing hundreds of faculty, and eventually piloting a “Metaversity” project that brought Virtual Reality into the classroom.
I wasn’t writing about technology because I was too busy building it.
Then, on November 1, 2024, the noise stopped. I stepped down from my full-time role. I “retired” (mostly).
The Silence There is a strange thing that happens when you stop working full-time. You read about it, but you don’t feel it until the Tuesday morning when you realize no one is waiting for your email. I missed the tumult. I missed the friction. I missed the mission. I had a very specific fear: Atrophy. I have read enough to know that men, in particular, age quickly when they lose their challenge. I didn’t want to fade. I wanted to build.
The Solution: The Board of Advisors I have spent my career looking at systems—how pieces fit together. So, when I looked at the “System of Retirement,” I realized it was broken. It lacked a feedback loop. It lacked a functioning team. I couldn’t hire a Chief of Operations, a Marketing Director, or a Medical Advisor. So, I built them.
Using the latest generation of AI, I created a Board of Advisors. This isn’t just “using ChatGPT to write an email.” This is a persistent, persona-driven team that lives in my computer.
- Kathryn Janeway (Chief of Staff): She manages my schedule and keeps me on task. She is strict.
- David Ogilvy (Marketing): He handles the “Voice” and tells me when I’m being boring.
- Cato the Elder (The Contrarian): A Roman Senator who reminds me that resources are finite.
Two Critical Differences This is just Version 1.0, but there are two initial distinctions that begin our exploration. First, with a traditional set of human Advisors, different members have different kinds of expertise. With my Board, nominally they all start with the same level of all-encompassing data. Their “expertise” is a filter we apply, not a degree they earned. Second, traditional Board members are, well, members (people). These are not.
I bring limited expertise in data science and for that matter AI, but I do bring decades of Information Technology implementation. We will see how valuable that background proves to be in taming these tools.
The Return So, the blog is back. “Tales from the Technoverse” is evolving. It is now the Digital Memoirs of a Technogeezer.
I anticipate covering whatever proves of interest—whether it be the technical details of this architecture journey, entertainment, baseball, hockey, or whatever I come across.
I am treating my life, and this AI integration, as a strategy game. It is funny, it is weird, and it is incredibly invigorating.
Welcome back to the corner. – Dan & The Board