Pen Thoughts

I received today a newsletter from Igor Pogany, from MyAIAdvantage about the New York Times suing OpenAI. I met Igor recently in a capacity building organized by the YMCA World Alliance , and he was introducing Chat GPT's unbelievable abilities. The truth is, it feels illegal for anyone to own such an assistance. I spent 20 years of my life developing written communication skills and my ability to articulate plans strategically and tactically. In the hands of way less qualified individuals, Chat GPT can out skill me in producing better-quality papers in a fraction of the time. But let's go back to the main story. ​A federal lawsuit filed by The New York Times accuses OpenAI and Microsoft of copyright infringement, claiming ChatGPT was illegally trained on Times data. If the Times' demands are met, it will spell the end for ChatGPT. For months, attorneys negotiated a licensing agreement that would compensate the Times for the unauthorized use of their content. Recently the ...

In May 2021,  Louis Charbonneau  a United Nations Director, published in the Foreign Policy Focus  on  How the UN can help end Israeli Apartheid and persecution ;  It was one of the most vocally direct condemnations of the Israeli occupation and the atrocities they are committing day in and day out, violating human rights all over the chart. It was surprising for me to read direct messages, holding the Israeli government the responsibilities for Palestinian suffering, an alien declaration from UN officials. Surprising statements were: "The world should stop pretending that these crimes aren’t happening. It should also not tolerate depriving millions of Palestinians of their fundamental rights in order to preserve the possibility of a peace deal that isn’t coming anytime soon." he continues with " The crime requires three elements: an intention to maintain a system of domination, systematic oppression, and inhumane acts committed as part of that project." " Hum...

Sometimes I enjoy flipping my notebooks to read some quotes I registered from different authors or articles; today, I stumbled against an article quoting Morgan Housel , a columnist at Wall Street and an author as far as I know. I never had the chance to read anything for him though. The quotes were about finding the balance between optimism and pessimism; I guess it is the perfect timing for my Lebanese peers to read this out; here you go: "Optimism is usually defined as a belief that things will go well. But that's incomplete. Sensible optimism is a belief that the odds are in your favour, and over time things will balance out to a good outcome even if what happens in between is filled with misery. And in fact, you know it will be filled with misery. You can be optimistic that the long-term growth trajectory is up and to the right, but equally sure that the road between now and then is filled with landmines, and always will be. Those two things are not mutually exclusive....

I had the honour to meet yesterday one of the greatest cleric social workers in Lebanon, currently the Archibishop of Zahle for the Christian Catholic family, his Excellence Issam Darwish. I heard so many stories about him before the actual meeting. His reputation is as white as it could be. He created Dar El Sadaqa technical school and orphanage, in his own words: "to answer the needs of the communities". After he initiated the orphanage (Al Dar) in Ksara area, he fought to change the support system within the Ministry of Social Affairs, which they were surprisingly positive to his proposition, terminating the work of orphanages and support families to keep their offsprings at home (of course the positivity died with time passing, for it, was a successful initiative, like every success in this miserable country that was put to sleep). This initiative could have affected negatively Al Dar. Yet, in his excellency's mind, the prosperity of the association that he crea...

A fish was swimming one day in a cool pond at the high western mountains of Lebanon, happily and peacefully. A frog came along and asks the fish: "Heyy, how is the water". The fish look at the frog surprisingly and blankly, responding: "What's water"! If you live in Lebanon, you don't need wittiness to understand who's the fish and who's the frog might be. Yet it is always surprising how resistant some Lebanese on seeing clearly the true colours of our crisis; thus, are completely blind on who hold the responsibilities. It could be blindness, collusion of interests and/or a mixture of both. In any case, this never stop being a perplexing dilemma for Lebanese citizens who have freed themselves from the slavery of sectarian autocrats, or to whom have never given their knees. Even when it comes to advanced liberal forces who have fought against the tyranny of neighbours, they have fallen, as their pride did, into the cracks of the sectarian sy...

Organizational Development was always part of what I do. Many disciplines that I went through during the university years, being a double major student in Accounting/Finance and Software Engineering, developed my abilities to understand organizational structures and dynamics. It allowed me as well to continuously learn and change perspectives about how things work in an organization. The learning years have rewired my brain to understand everything in a structured fashion. Accounting and Software Engineering are two rigidly organized sets of learning that are essential pillars for any organization to do business. My background allowed me to work in positions that profited from all the skills I learned during my study years. Even now, in my current job as an operations manager, the combination of skills and knowledge base gave me an edge, an advanced lookup on the optimistic ways to organize the work and obtain results. However, almost always the project management success remaine...

It has been a long time since I wrote to this blog. on many occasions, I wanted to write but felt that I have nothing serious to share. The last couple of days, I started reading a book about ancient Chinese wisdom. I got the book while I was in Paris, in a visit arranged by UNESCO. at the same time as the conference, I participated in, there was a Chinese cultural seminar within the UNESCO building. I got the chance to see actual monks and to speak with wise elderlies. one of whom gave me a movie on a USB stick and a bunch of books about religions and wisdom. I shelved the books for a long time before deciding to start reading it. Now I regret every moment I left these books in solitude and didn't get into it sooner! yet I believe that books have their own spirit and from my experience, it calls you to the read. The first book I snatched from the counter, was "The Governing Principles of Ancient China". the book is based on 360 passages excerpted from the origi...

In the 73rd memorial of the Lebanese Independence Day, still, a deep surge of wonder and uncertainty circulate my shallow conception about the country I was born, raised and reborn many times into. A question mark keeps lingering in my head while no definite answer can be reached. Is Lebanon as we know it today, deserve to be an entity inclusive to all its indigenous residents? I was born in 1981, a considerably dangerous year to be alive, or at least to be aware in Lebanon. As it was mentioned on my ID, my residential birth was the nearest hospital possible to the shelter where my parents used to take cover. Up until my 9th birthday, most of my childhood memories were made either in shelters or in a 5 Km radius away from. The crystal clear images in my head remained from the year 1990, when I had my first communion and the battles between the Christian faction “Lebanese Forces” and the Lebanese army. I remember the shelling, I remember death, I remember the voices o...

في الذكرى ال38 لتغييب الإمام موسى الصدر يحكى عن بائع المثلجات المسيحي العتيق في صور، الذي لجأ الى الإمام الصدر بعدما بدأ يعاني من ضائقة مادية، سببها مقاطعة المسلمين له في تلك المنطقة، بعد افتتاح محل لبائع آخر للمثلجات في جواره من الطائفة المسلمة. في احد الأيام، بعد صلاة الجمعة، توجه الامام الصدر مع مرافقيه وعدد من المصلّين الى محلة البائع المسيحي واكلوا المثلجات عنده. لم تكن تلك البادرة تمثيلية تعايش وطني وما شابه الاقاويل التي تلوث اذاننا عن الوحدة والاخوة بين الطوائف في لبنان وشاكلاتها من الأدبيات الخشبية الكاذبة. ارادها الامام رسالة الى اهل بيته والى العالم بأجمعه بأنه اولاً يحب المثلجات، وثانياً يحب الانسان كما خلقه الله وليس كما صبغه المجتمع . عظمة الانسان ليس بالشعر الذي يمدح أعماله ويهديه صفة البطولة عن حق او عن غير حق. عظمة الانسان ليس في تأليه غير مجدي وغير واقعي وملوث بمصالح وغايات. عظمة الانسان هي بالأعمال الصغيرة التي يتحدى بها كل المعايير، حتى ولو انبثقة عن بيئته ومجتمعه . لهذا، كان الإمام الصدر عظيماً !

في الأيام القليلة الماضية، أنتشر شريط مسجّل يظهر عملية تعذيب لسجناء رومية الإسلاميين. وقد نال الشريط إستهجان الكثير من اللبنانيين وأثار غضبهم للطريقة المذلة التي تعاملت بها القوى الأمنية المولجة مسؤولية تحقيق النظام في السجن بعد انتفاضة المساجين في المبنى ب. لا شك ان المبنى ب، الخاص بالمساجين الإسلاميين كان قبل المداهمة، إمارة إسلامية مجهزة بأحدث طرق الإتصال. يقال بأن عمليات امنية متعددة خطّط لها في اروقة هذا المبنى. ولا شك أيضاً بأن هذه المهذلة التي لطالما اشار اليها الاعلام، كان لا بدّ ان يُضع لها حداً. لكن اسئلة كثيرة تطرح في هذا الإطار لمعرفة الأسباب التي أدت الى توسع نفوذ الإسلاميين في السجن، ومن كان يزودهم بكل الوسائل التي كانت متاحة في المبنى ب، ولمذا لم يتم الإسراع في محاكمتهم لرفع الظلم عن معظمهم. كلها أسئلة برسم الطبقة السياسية. المفاجئ في الامر، هو حجم ردود الفعل المؤيدة والمدافعة عن القوى الأمنية، مبررين الارتكابات التي حصلت كنتيجة حتميّة لكبح الإنتفاضة في السجن، وبأن المساجين الإسلاميين يستحقون تلك المعاملة.  إن اعتبار تصرف القوى الأمنية في هذا الإطار هو ...

اعتدت منذ فترة طويلة على تقليد صباحيّ روتينيّ بسيط غير انه أصبح بغاية الأهمية بالنسبة إليّ. أحضّر قهوتي، أتربّع عرشي وراء المكتب، واتصفح جريدة النهار لثلاثين دقيقة. هذه العادة جعلتني من أشدّ المعجبين بالصحافي راجح الخوري. ثقافته السياسية واسعة وهو قارئ نهم متابع للأخبار العالمية والإقليميّة ويترجم بمنطق حاد مفهومه للأوضاع بشكل حازم ولازع. في جريدة اليوم عدد 25462 في تاريخ 21/8/2014 تحدّث راجح في عموده اليوميّ صفحة 12، عن اللبنانيين الذين أصبحوا حفنة من الاجئين في وطنهم الأم. وقد توجه بهذا المقال بالرد أو بإنتقاد ما جاء على لسان روس ماونتن منسق الأمم المتحدة للشؤون الإنسانية في لبنان، في مقابلة صحافية مع ريتا صفير، زميلة راجح في النهار. وقد اختتم المقال بتلخيص ممتاز للمحتوى وقد جاء فيه: "مستر ماونتن، تقول انكم تعملون بموجب الحياد والإنسانية. ولكن الإنسانية تفرض على الأقل سلوكاً أكثر جديّة ومسؤوليّة وأخلاقيّة حيال بلد يجعل طوفان الاجئين إليه من أهله حفنة من الاجئين والمهاجرين". ولقد لفتني جداً هذا القول. فان افتراض راجح تحرّك الأمم المتحدة تجاه أزمة النزوح مصدره م...

Historically Lebanese people have cultivated a very bad habit of enslaving themselves to something, a war lord, a religious leader, a secular leader, etc. i always argued that this bad habit, this urge, is only a manifestation for the need of belonging, especially in total absence of nationalism and the positive moderate religious life style have permitted Lebanese to seek belonging in other forms than the extreme religious representation, at least most of them. At each time the Lebanese national security is at risk, and there are no other choice than for the Lebanese Army to interfere and take the lead, knowing that an earlier interference would save a lot of troublesome, a campaign of flood blinded support for the Lebanese Army take the shape of silly divinization. i don't mind this at all. as an institution, the Lebanese Army is a focal point that most of the Lebanese trust and consider highly. but i argue that a balance should be settled. and i emphasis that the ...