comic strip – Page 37 – SKETCHMAN BORIS

Cartoon blog day 22: Artificial intelligence

20181102 CBD21 Artifical intelligence

Usually what I create, which means the things I put out there come from what I am reading, watching at that time. Since I am currently reading the brilliant Yuval Noah Harari’s HOMO DEUS, I was hit with a fear that I put aside for some time.

There is so much in the book to take in and I need to read it again to make notes and take lessons for myself. His book SAPIENS was about human history and this is about the future of humankind in which Artificial intelligence will play a major role.

He argues that many people or most people will become militarily and economically useless because their jobs will be taken over by artificial intelligence (A.I.).

The question I asked myself as a teacher and cartoonist, is not whether my job will be replaced by A.I. because that is inevitable, there are already computer programs which compose music, it won’t take long for them to make jokes. However, i start thinking about when it would happen.

We live truly in a crucial moment, you might say “yeah but every generation says that about their era”. Well, if not for anything else the rhythm of changes have never been so high in Human history. Do you realize that the first Smartphone IPhone was released in a 2007? 11 years ago? Look how much has changed in ten years.

Like I said in my cartoon, I have hope that we still have time. I went to see a movie the other day and I wanted to buy the ticket from the Automatic machine and it didn’t work so I went with the human option, which made me smile a bit.

We have time, Yes. Not to enjoy but to focus on reducing our Carbon footprint because that is for me the biggest problem at the moment.

Bonne journée.

Cartoon blog day 21: Can you be happy and healthy?

Let’s talk about HAPPY. (Not the graphic novel by Grant Morrison)

Does the state of happiness exist?

When you say you feel happy, aren’t you really just feeling a rush of chemicals in your brain? if so, how do you differentiate chemicals of happiness from chemicals of pleasure?

We are programmed to fulfill needs and act on our desires. If you call acting on desires happiness you are not different from other animals. Unless we choose our desires and needs in the first place. But, Do WE?

If I have learned from the massive book that is SAPIENS (by Yuval Noah Harari) is that we don’t seek happiness, we seek pleasure.

I started reflecting about this. If you were really happy you wouldn’t be thinking about what to do next after reading this. Most of us live in checklists of things we have to do.

-Wait, wait, there is more to that Boris.

-Of course, I am not a scientist, just a cartoonist, but there are also more reasons why people cheat on their partners, for now let’s stay simple.

All this to say, I’ve given up on eating chocolate on a regular basis. I eat chocolate only on Saturdays. This is not going to change anything in my body but I do love sweets and chocolate was my GO TO.

This craving made me think of whether people who are into strict diet are really happy. Because a strict diet means that they have sacrificed their old eating habits which would have been synonymous with pleasure.

What do you think, can you be healthy and happy?

Bonne journée.

Cartoon blog day 19: Desensitization

This is not new but I wanted to remind that this is happening. Social media websites and applications are great links between people who may not have a connection otherwise with the same level of ease. It’s a great way to spread messages, news, information.

Again the most important question that we must be asking ourselves is one I have mentioned in one of my previous posts: What’s important?

With all the information you receive in one day, or even in one hour how do you decide what is important?

Tragedies are inevitable, imagine a tragedy took place due to a problem in a distant country and people share them on Facebook. And other people share the information and I truly believe that being aware of a problem is the first step towards solving it.

Then we quickly move to another post of a cute puppy playing with a baby. And we somehow feel satisfied for just sharing a tragedy and move on with the next thing we WANT to do.

“Wait, Boris we can’t solve all the problems in the world.” Exactly we can’t solve all the problems in the world alone. I am not saying you have to solve all the problems, just the problems you feel mean enough for you to do something.

For example you see a video of a beach filled with trash. Share the video and think about how you can reduce the waste you produce as an individual, get information on how to reduce waste: use cloth instead of paper, reusable bags instead of plastic and so on. Live by example show, show how people can become the change they want to see in the world.

Bonne journée.

Cartoon blog day 20: Freedom and relationship

20181101 CBD20 Venom and freedom

On a positive note before I take your morale down with me talking to you about my relationship to relationships, I enjoyed VENOM and I made a video about it on my Youtube channel MOVIE MESSENGER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmcRNqAscB4

I don’t have enough distance from my own life to assess whether I am stuck on a loop of my own self persuasion. I seem to give my self excuses for not being in a relationship going so far as questioning the purpose of a relationship.

Then I catch myself doing what I criticize about most people who are in a relationship. I said in one of my previous post: I feel like people see relationships as a means to an end, not an end in itself. So by questioning the purpose of a relationship I am making the same mistake.

OK then I can be in a relationship as long as I cherish the relationship and its intrinsic value. But I am at a moment in my life where I don’t see what another person (woman) can bring to my life. Of course, other than sex.

But if I engage in a relationship with only sex in mind, it’s not fair for the girl. Because everyone has expectations in relationships.

Yes but how I can find a girl if I don’t try?

I lost the motivation to try for a long time, I don’t know if it’s because creating art has given me enough fulfillment or because I haven’t met an interesting girl who was interested in me for who I was, maybe both.

Bonne journée.

Cartoon blog day 17: Skin whitening

CBD17 Skin whitening1.jpg

CBD17 Skin whitening2.jpg

OK let’s get past the obvious : “It’s what’s on the inside that counts”. As true as it is, you can’t put a myriad of reasons in one sentence.

Let’s start at the beginning, all questions lead to one question: What’s important?

I have already mentioned in one of my previous posts that the meaning of life is LIFE itself, life is the process you have to fall in love with.

You need life to continue your search for meaning. As long as there is life there is HOPE.

For you to be alive, you need health.

So if you are a person who uses skin whitening products or if you know any person using such products, stop for a moment and ask yourself if this is healthy.

You might say, but if it’s not healthy why do all these companies sell them. They also sell guns and cigarettes remember? Do you think companies care about your health? I mean more people die nowadays not because of famine but because they eat too much.

European people tan: Why is tanning different from skin whitening?

First tanning is temporary but whitening is permanent. Skin whitening is altering your natural pigmentation to leave you more defenseless against UV.

Your dark skin is not a biological defect it’s part of a long line of evolution.

People might say: “Oh relax Boris that comes from a long history in different cultures from seeing rich people with lighter skin because they never worked outside compared to the peasants who work under the sun.”

Well fat people were also considered well fed, so what do people want to be fit and healthy?

If you ask me, my skin represents not only who I am and how people see me, but who my ancestors were. OK forget the ancestors it’s a gift from my parents and I love it just like I love them.

You don’t need a whiter skin, you need a healthy one.