Charles Gutjahr

Melbourne, Australia

Writing

Occasionally I write something more substantial than a tweet. This is a collection of such writing:

AI is a bicycle, not a brain

30 May 2023 — a 6 minute read on opinion

Steve Jobs used to tell a great story about what a computer is; he called it a "bicycle of the mind". It's that story I think of when I look at the new generation of artificial intelligence (AI). Some…

Blockchain games are not the future

13 May 2022 — a 1 minute read on opinion

I reckon this interview with Leah Callon-Butler promoting blockchain games in The Age today is completely wrong. So let's put my opinion on the record. Callon-Butler says: "There are a lot of…

Pandemic predictions for 2022

12 Sep 2021 — a 2 minute read on opinion

I've mainly avoided commenting on the pandemic because I don't think I'm suitable qualified (nor are you, probably) but I have made predictions, kept to myself, that have sometimes proved right and…

Clear and unequivocal

4 Mar 2021 — a 1 minute read on opinion

Christian Porter has denied rape allegations against him, and we must presume him innocent. I agree with his argument that MPs shouldn't lose their job simply due to an allegation. Porter should still…

AI enhances us, it doesn't replace us

22 Nov 2020 — a 1 minute read on opinion

I am so happy to see the Robodebt disgrace finally over with a class action settled by the Government this week. There are a pile of lessons to learn from that saga, but here's the one most relevant…

The man who mistakenly thought he ran the USA

8 Nov 2020 — a 2 minute read on opinion

Goodbye to Donald Trump, the man who mistakenly thought he ran the USA. Amid the sea of lies we heard from Trump it was perhaps too easy to ignore the lie we too often tell ourselves: that a prime…

The draft news media bargaining code in Australia

20 Sep 2020 — a 7 minute read on opinion

Wow this ruckus over publishing Australian news on Facebook and Google is... weird. Usually any time Aussie technology becomes a big story I'm all over it with opinions, but I haven't known what to…

Pandemic words week #4: Essential

3 Aug 2020 — a 1 minute read on COVID-19 Words

Essential Essential services, essential workers, essential supplies... the Victorian Government repeatedly used the word "essential" while announcing the latest restrictions in Victoria. So what is…

Pandemic words week #3: Lockdown

27 Jul 2020 — a 2 minute read on COVID-19 Words

Lockdown All us Melbournians are stuck at home in lockdown right now. But why are we calling it "lockdown"? That is not the term which the Victorian Government uses, they call it "Stay at Home…

Pandemic words week #2: Second Wave

19 Jul 2020 — a 2 minute read on COVID-19 Words

Second Wave What term could be more appropriate for my second week of judging pandemic words than 'second wave'? After all we're in one right now, right? This is another term that I'd never heard…

Judging pandemic words

12 Jul 2020 — a 1 minute read on COVID-19 Words

For a while I was posting a short opinion online each weekend, more for my benefit than yours. I find writing down my thoughts a useful bit of introspection. It is a chance to evaluate whether my…

My initial review of the COVIDSafe tracing app

27 Apr 2020 — a 1 minute read on opinion

COVIDSafe: Looks like government has does a decent job on privacy, it doesn't track your location, it doesn't store unnecessary information. You should feel safe installing the app. The problem is it…

Welcome to April

1 Apr 2020 — a 1 minute read on opinion

Welcome to April, the month when most of the first Australian Government stimulus package is rolling out. It is interesting how things have changed in three weeks since that was announced. Back then…

No support for casual workers with coronavirus

10 Mar 2020 — a 1 minute read on opinion

From The Guardian: Australian government won't 'jump to a solution' to help casual workers in coronavirus crisis Sounds like our government doesn't want to support casual workers and business owners…

We're still not close to equality in technology

1 Dec 2019 — a 1 minute read on opinion

We need to do more to attract and retain women in technology. In Australia less than a quarter of IT graduates are women, and that ratio has actually gotten worse: it has dropped since 2001 when I…

A healthy mistrust of data

24 Nov 2019 — a 1 minute read on opinion

I am so glad to see our government back down on robodebt this week. They will no longer automatically raise a debt on welfare recipients based on data matching, instead Centrelink staff should review…

I want a news bubble

10 Nov 2019 — a 1 minute read on opinion

Yesterday the Sydney Morning Herald chose to run celebrity news on their front cover when they should have featured the devastating NSW bushfires. I don't mind that newspapers cover celebrities or…

A change in climate?

28 Sep 2019 — a 1 minute read on opinion

I am feeling optimistic about our ability to deal with climate change, thanks to the last few weeks of attention on strikes and Greta Thunberg and all of that. That's because I feel like there was a…

Biloela Tamil family facing imminent deportation

3 Sep 2019 — a 1 minute read on opinion

It seems to me there is an obvious solution for the Biloela Tamil family who are facing imminent deportation: they should be allowed to apply for one of the new regional visas. They seem like ideal…

Secrets, Spies and Trials

28 Aug 2019 — a 2 minute read on opinion

The Secrets, Spies and Trials episode of 4 Corners this week had a wonderfully ironic quote from Alexander Downer. He said this in 2004 as Australian Foreign Minister negotiating oil and gas rights…

The moon landings were oddly reassuring

4 Aug 2019 — a 1 minute read on opinion

I have enjoying reading and hearing the many stories that surfaced in the last month for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landings. In particular it is fascinating just how similar the…

Online food deliveries

30 Jul 2019 — a 4 minute read on business

Read this ABC article about online food deliveries. It sounds like the reason hardly anyone dines at New York Minute is the influx of online delivery services, right? I have a different theory: New…

Robots taking all the jobs

15 Jul 2019 — a 1 minute read on opinion

It is possible that in the future robots take all our jobs... but I don't think we will lack for jobs in the future. The problem is we may lack for ways to pay for the jobs we need done. We already…

Misinterpreting data

8 Jul 2019 — a 1 minute read on opinion

There are couple of times in my career as a programmer where I've made a bad decision because I misinterpreted data — analytics, user research, production data samples, etc. Sometimes the data was…

Parliament is back next week

30 Jun 2019 — a 1 minute read on opinion

Federal Parliament is back next week. I know a lot of people were surprised that the Coalition was returned to government, and my many left-leaning friends were disappointed. I take a slightly…

Cocoa versus cacao

23 Jun 2019 — a 1 minute read on opinion

Cacao is cocoa that hasn't been roasted properly. However unlike cocoa, cacao is recently fashionable due to its alleged health benefits of antioxidants and minerals etc. Though it is true that high…

Huawei

26 May 2019 — a 1 minute read on opinion

The big Chinese tech company Huawei has been banned or shut out by several Western governments recently, but it's not clear why. I figure it's either: reasonable, based secret intelligence about…

Uber

12 May 2019 — a 1 minute read on opinion

Uber listed on the stock market on Friday and was valued at US$80bn. How is that possible when Uber lost US$3bn last year? Uber loses money because it subsidises every fare... we pay perhaps less than…

Don't egg them on

17 Mar 2019 — a 1 minute read on opinion

Fraser Anning contributes nothing good to our country. He perpetuates xenophobic lies then acts like he is some victim of society, which is bullshit. So that's why I'm disappointed a kid hit Anning…

The opinion that I self-censored

3 Mar 2019 — a 1 minute read on opinion

I have been enjoying writing a short opinion each week. It can get some friendly debate going and helps me think more deeply about the assumptions I carry around in life. But this weekend I wrote an…

The Ends Justify The Means

24 Feb 2019 — a 1 minute read on opinion

Recently I argued with a friend over the concept of 'the ends justify the means'. I think its bad reputation is unfair. A common argument against the concept is that Hitler justified the horrors of…

Carrying cash

3 Feb 2019 — a 1 minute read on opinion

It's getting easier to live life without cash in your wallet — or without a wallet at all. We can go shopping just about anywhere with just a credit card or smartphone. I buy most things on card…

Australia Day

26 Jan 2019 — a 1 minute read on opinion

Australia Day will inevitably change to another date. Conservatives don't seem to realise that they have already lost this battle of the culture war. My friends used to hold Australia Day parties…

Split Labor, split Liberal, we'll be better off.

22 Jul 2018 — a 3 minute read on politics

It's pretty clear that it was a mistake for Malcolm Turnbull to try to appease the agitators in his party by changing energy policy yet again. Turnbull's capitulation lost him credibility and surely…

Natural gas in Victoria compared to world prices

19 Mar 2017 — a 2 minute read on politics

A number of recent articles claimed that Japan was paying less for Australian natural gas than Australians are. That surprised me because I always thought natural gas was very cheap here in Victoria…

Adding a catchall to OS X Server Mail

22 Nov 2015 — a 3 minute read on tech

OS X Server 5 provides very few options for its inbuilt mail server, and does not provide an apparent way to configure a catchall — an inbox that receives all email sent to your domain. Catchalls risk…

Cancelling bad projects is good policy

11 Sep 2014 — a 3 minute read on politics

I am very glad to see the Victorian Labor leader Daniel Andrews say today that he will stop the East West Link project, and would not honour contracts signed before the election (albeit with…

Government needs to build the case for metadata

18 Aug 2014 — a 1 minute read on politics

I appeared on last week's Q&A show questioning whether collecting metadata on citizens is effective at combating terrorism. My guess is that's its pretty useless. I might be wrong, but security…

Too many have died

26 May 2014 — a 1 minute read on politics

"When will enough people say 'stop this madness, we don't have to live like this!'" A wonderful speech from the father of a recent US shooting victim.

Blame for the budget deficit

17 May 2014 — a 5 minute read on politics

There's so much in the Abbott government's first budget for us lefties to complain about. I know ranting on a blog won't change anyone's opinion... but, dammit, I can't resist so here's a blog post…

Aren't all corporate gifts actually bribes?

16 Apr 2014 — a 2 minute read on business

Barry O'Farrell, Premier of New South Wales, announced today that he will resign due to accepting an expensive bottle of wine as a gift and failing to tell yesterday's ICAC hearing about it. I make no…

How to watch Game of Thrones in Australia

13 Apr 2014 — a 5 minute read on culture

It's hard to miss when a new series of Game of Thrones starts... the media and bloggers love to talk about it, and you'll probably hear a lot about it from your friends too. What isn't so obvious is…

Death and the inadvertent advertisement

18 Aug 2011 — a 1 minute read on business

Two men were shot and killed today at CBD Smash Repairs in Florence Street, Brunswick, according to The Age and other media. It’s a horrible story, and not something anyone would make light of. So it…

The Real Estate Agents Who Cried Wolf

23 Jan 2011 — a 2 minute read on business

Someone slipped a note under my door last week. It was a handwritten note in blue ink from a local real estate agent. Someone wants to buy my house! The note says: I believe I have a buyer for your…

© 2023 Charles Gutjahr