The heart in Artificial Intelligence

Blog post originally published on State of Digital as part of a monthly column

My son Arthur has just been awarded a prize for story-telling at his primary school. So when I watched that short movie whose script was generated by artificial intelligence, based on thousands of sci-fi books and films, I could certainly see a lot of similarity between both outputs. For me this epitomizes the current state of AI… It is raw, forming, full of potential but still with a long way to go towards maturity.

Today we will be covering the heart in artificial intelligence. After all, if artificial intelligence is, by definition, artificial, how can it have a heart, how can it have emotions? On the other hand, if AI is the brain child of thinking, feeling people, how can it not have a heart? This is a critical question for us, marketers who want to trigger emotional reactions from consumers but who also rely always more on algorithms and automation. To answer it, we will first need to define artificial intelligence. We’ll explore the 7 outcomes we can expect from AI, and consider how we materialize these expectations today to enable everyone of us to fulfil our potential.

The building blocks of AI

To understand if a heart is beating inside artificial intelligence, we need to understand where AI comes from. Although AI has been all over the press lately, it is not news… It is rather a 30-year old corpus of work, aimed at creating intelligent machines, by combining three building blocks: machine learning, human learning and data science. And in many ways there is a strong analogy between AI and raising a child.

Just like children get their foundational learnings from their parents, teachers and by the school books they read, machine learning is based on known properties, and the machine learns from the data. Think if/then scenarios. If your son behaves well, then he will be treated by Santa. If your daughter sees a puddle, then she should not to stomp in it to keep her feet dry. This is also how machine learning works: if you liked that book, then you’ll probably like these ones too. If you bought a laptop, then you should consider this bag. These are just small, basic examples of a very complex field.

Kids learn fast that if they cry and shout they get your attention… Now, you will certainly want them to assimilate that such a behaviour is not a normal mode of expression. Human learning is how we make course corrections to the machine learning that is happening. Cortana, Microsoft’s digital personal assistant, has a team behind the scenes working on human learning so she can get smarter. This human learning gives the digital personal assistant more personality, and her responses to queries are more human because of this.

Data science is the third brick of artificial intelligence. Data science is the discovery of unknown properties, or connections, in data. In this case, the machine is presented with a massive amount of data and asked to find connections in it. This is how we might discover that watching a certain program in your youth increases your chance to marry a foreigner. We didn’t know there was a connection between these pieces of data until we went looking for that connection.

Human intervention

We have seen these three fields accelerating their capabilities recently due to the exponential development rate of our computing power. We are able to process, analyse and render an ever-growing amount of information, at an increasing pace. But where does that data that feeds machine learning, human learning and data science come from?
It comes from us! Artificial intelligence comes from us. In many ways, it is us.

Artificial intelligence is only as intelligent as the data it takes in. It is only as fair as the data it takes in. It is only as human as the data it takes in. It is only as socially acceptable as the data it takes in. I would like to share with you two examples of AI, which to a large extent illustrate how humans can influence how intelligent a bot can be.
Remember Tay, Microsoft first experiment as a Twitter bot? Tay learned from her inputs, which were hijacked by some people who wanted to influence her negatively. In this case, Tay incited high emotion from people who engaged with her or read about what happened with her, even if Tay, herself, did not express emotion and was merely a reflection of the hatred that fed her.

On the other end, Microsoft also created Xiaoice a couple years ago and it is a perfect example of where technology is going and why we think of conversations as a new platform for brands and commerce. Xiaoice is a chat-bot based on Bing search technology and big data. It draws on AI, social media, and machine learning so she can hold a proper conversation – the average exchange between Xiaoice and a user has 26 turns. She’s sensitive to emotions and remembers your previous chats. If you tell her about a breakup, she’ll check in with you. If you introduce her to a puppy through a photo, she’ll recognize the breed, ask you for its development. And to say this bot has been popular is an understatement. Three days after she was available, Xiaoice had been added to 1.5 million conversations on WeChat. Once added to Weibo, the Chinese micro-blogging service, it became one of the most popular celebrity accounts. And today, Xiaoice is used by over 40 million people.

Tay and Xiaoice are like two twins, split at birth and raised in two different environments, with different influences… Two very different individuals in the end.

Assessing our expectations

So, what can we reasonably expect from artificial intelligence?

As mentioned before the computing advancements have enabled a fast acceleration of three technologies which underpin the maturation of artificial intelligence: object recognition, natural language processing and speech. If the AI can see, speak and listen, it is not far from being able to exchange with human being transparently.

Actually, mid-October 2016, Microsoft researchers announced they had reached human parity with the word error rate (WER) for conversational speech recognition, meaning that their AI was as capable as a professional transcriber to write up an oral conversation. Language understanding and acquisition is not easy, and it is critical to the success of AI. If you travelled a bit, you will be familiar on the complexity implied by accents, dialects, pronunciation but also the fact that a same word may have several meanings based on the context. This progress was critical because without this piece of artificial intelligence, so many developments wouldn’t move forward. Think about how patient you would be with a digital personal assistant or a sales advisor that misunderstood most of what you said?

Natural language learning is a complex skill, as we know from watching our children learn to speak. But with our increased computing capabilities, not only are we able to recognize accurately the words but we are able to do this instantaneously. This unlocks new scenarios like Voice-to-text which allows deaf children to read the transcript of a discussion in real time or Skype Translator which not only has the natural language skills necessary for a conversation but can also translate into other languages.

Well, this outcome is one of many. Capitalizing on the progress of machine learning around object recognition, natural language processing and speech, we have seen our expectations towards AI graduate from the most basic to much more advanced outcomes.

The 7 outcomes of AI

According to Silicon-Valley analyst, Ray Wang, there are seven intertwined outcomes for artificial intelligence, based on what we are now able to program via machine learning.

1. Perception is an example of early machine learning, now totally engrained in our daily life. Drawing on existing data, the machine delivers information about what is happening now. The weather, traffic, sales volumes, stock prices – things that are measureable and reportable. This AI outcome brings us back to the core promise of search engines when based on a typed or voiced query, the machine learning understands the intent and provides the answer or links to the information. For humans, learning to express their perception, it’s pretty simple as well. A child can describe what is happening now with ease. We learn this almost immediately: it is dark; I am hot; or, based on these circumstances, I am joyful. To illustrate a more advanced Perception outcome, we can look at facial recognition and play with http://how-old.net which assesses your age based on your traits (and which we hate to be accurate).
2. Next, Notification. If I did not have my calendar delivering notifications, I would be a horrible colleague – late to meetings or just not showing up because I cannot hold my schedule in my mind. Here the intent is less explicitly verbalized, but it is still initiated by the user and the information remains factual without any analysis of the data. We learn notification early as well, perhaps starting with letting Mom know we’re hungry. Fact: I am hungry; Notification: I cry. It never stops – in school, we notify the teacher that we have the answer.
3. Suggestion is another area we have grown to be familiar with, and is now engrained in our daily life. You searched for these words, but “Did you mean?”… The machine learns from past behaviours and suggests alternative actions. We all love this machine learning with our Spotify account for instance. If I listen to a song and I like it, the AI suggests more songs for me to enjoy. And you can always retain that Human Learning capability to ensure that the AI never drifts from Justin Timberlake to Justin Bieber… Early suggestions were basic, but imagine what can influence them today: demographics, location, day, time, weather, behaviours, etc. The data sets are humongous but we are now capable to combine and process them in no time and identify new, maybe more obscure connections
4. Our children learn a nice drawing will trigger a smile from their parents, or that it’s time to wash their hands before a meal. Over time, we don’t even have to remind them; they just know it’s what’s next and it becomes Automation. A suggestion or a recommended action can grow into automation based on learning your preferences. If you follow avidly the progress of your favorite team, the AI will start to automatically inform you of their performance. If you always make a reservation for 7pm on Saturdays, your AI will start to spontaneuously fill in the date and time on your reservations. If you trigger the same report every Monday morning, the machine will start to pull the information for you and make it available in your Business Intelligence dashboard.
5. Predictions can be the hardest machine learning to train, because so many variables can affect this outcome. Think of a child who sees Daddy packing a suitcase; based on past behaviour, this toddler knows that this means Daddy is leaving for a few days, which is sad. But sometimes it also means that the child gets to travel with Daddy. What factors will alert the toddler about what outcome to expect? Microsoft has developed a program called Bing Predicts which combines and models all the data signals we can find, and comes up with incredibly accurate predictions. It initially explored popularity-based contests like American Idol, for which the web and social signals are very strong and highly correlate with popularity voting patterns. You search for information about that performer, his history, his latest video clip. At the same time, you comment the performance on Facebook or Twitter. By combining anonymized search patterns to social signals Bing Predicts could accurately project who would be eliminated each week during American Idol and who the eventual winner would be. More complex, we then turned to sporting events and even world political challenges. During the World Cup in Brazil, our team predicted accurately with 100% accuracy the winners of the final elimination round. During the last year Rugby World cup, we had 87% accuracy across the tournament. Surprised? In order to successfully predict a sporting event outcome, the number and type of signals we incorporated quadrupled from what we used to predict a basic popularity event like American Idol. This is because we recognize that popularity alone does not predict whether a team will win – Sorry for the fans. A fan base has however special insight into the abilities of their teams, and those fans are having constant discussions about their team. This is called the “Insider Knowledge.” We weighted their knowledge against player and team stats, tournament trends, game history, location and even weather conditions. This is how we were successful in our predictions.
6. If we manage to predict accurately the future, the next logical step after prediction is Prevention. Again Bing Predicts shines in this category: by analysing large samples of search queries, Microsoft scientists have been able to identify internet users who are suffering from pancreatic cancer even before they were diagnosed. The researchers focused on searches conducted on Bing that indicated someone had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. From there, they worked backward, looking for earlier queries that could have shown that the Bing user was experiencing symptoms before the diagnosis. Those early searches, they believe, can be warning flags.
7. Finally, Situational Awareness for AI comes close to mimicking human behaviour in decision making. We see situational awareness as a combination of many aspects of AI, from object recognition to conversational speech. Here’s an example:

These 7 outcomes are complex and require a lot of training and time to accomplish. They are also interconnected and not mutually exclusive. They actually build upon each other to offer the benefits of AI to us, users.

In conclusion, everything we’re seeing with AI is exciting and rich. We see the heart in AI every day, when we ask it to help uncover cancer, help two people connect when they don’t speak the same language. But where is the moral and ethical compass for artificial intelligence?

As alluded to through this article, AI is still at its infancy and it is our collective responsibility to set it on the right trajectory. At Microsoft we are committed to this, and partnered with the University of Cambridge and the Partnership on AI, two international authorities to help shape the future of that promising discipline. For some, AI is a modern Oedipus that will have to “kill the father”, take away our jobs, make ourselves redundant. But for someone like Satya Nadella, AI will actually enable people to fulfil their full potential as we have seen across the 7 outcomes of AI. So yes, for Microsoft, AI has a heart. It is the mankind’s heart.

The Franco-British paradox

Edit: a few more additions on 9/06/14

The lists.

You have certainly come across some lists that define whether you are or not a Londoner, a Parisian, a Russian... I have even published one here a year ago. And yet, although these lists rely on facts and clichés I totally buy into, I have also realised that after two years in the UK, I had not completely blended in. Not yet. And in fact, I am still enjoying my differences and am even building upon it.

That led me to think about what we call in French "Les combles" of a non-English in the UK. This is hard to translate a concept, but it would be the "heights" if my faithful dictionary is accurate. A "comble" is something pushed to the absurd limit, something over the top... The following is a list, which will certainly expand thanks to your comments and suggestion, of the heights of being a non-assimilated alien in the UK. Some are a bit far-fetched, yet you will pardon your humble servant.

Statement or reality.

So as a matter of fact, you indeed know that you are not assimilated in the UK when:

1. You wear flip-flops in Wellington
2. You kick a football in Rugby
3. You take a shower in Bath
4. You spread mustard in Worchester
5. You look for ancient ruins in NewCastle
6. You get a speeding ticket in Slough
7. You finish a book in Reading
8. You shot a revolver in Winchester
9. You go bankrupt in Sale
10. You remain a virgin in Middlesex
11. You keep on eating chips in Dumfries
12. You play snooker in Poole
13. You sell Biafine in Blackburn
14. You breed pitbulls in Yorkshire
15. You grow potates in Leek
16. You get nailed in Hammersmith
17. You lay back in Hastings (courtesy of Mel Cason)
18. You get screwed in Cork (sorry, not in the UK, but could not skip that one)
19. You are constipated in Waterloo
20. You are seedless in Braintree
21. You dismount in Ryde
22. You refuse to march in Marlow
23. You are a headstone cutter in Livingston
24. You are immaculate in Staines
25. You never excel in Chartwell (special tribute to Microsoft-fans)
26. You are a veggan in Egham
27. You don't do a great job in Pipewell (bit kinky this one, and need to speak French to get it)
28. You are a clueless inspector in Leeds
29. You are trading bleech in Blackpool
30. You are running in Woking
31. You get stuck in Stape
32. You get a mute audience in Acklam
33. You own a dermatological firm in Hitchin
34. You fly the gay pride flag in Grays
35. You are hacker in IPswich (sorry for the geekery)
36. You forget your teddy in Sheringham
37. You are feeding the ducks in Swanage

The British cities are so interweaved in History that their name have inflitrated the vocabulary. And vice versa. So let's see if you can come up with more statements... Up to you twisted minds!

Joy of raising a bilingual child

Menage a deux

Now that my son masters his alphabet, or his alphabets I should specify, every occasion is a pretext to get him to spell things out. If he has not fully grasped the concept of syllables, he is pretty good decomposing any word he put his eyes on.

And here comes the fun part... In a language, most of the time one word is associated to one concept, a one-to-one link if you want. But for our little bilingual chap, it is a bit more complicated: for him, a concept or object is connected to... well, two words. One in French. The other in English. And this gives you some awkward conversations that could have featured in Rain Man.
 Who is on first base? Woo.

For instance, last week, the two of us were in the kitchen for dinner when my son glances at the bread box lying on the table, and starts deciphering the word engraved on the wooden box:

"B... R... E...A...D", he spells and then underlines the word and declares with pride the word: "PAIN!" (the French word for bread).
- "No", I reply with a smile, "it is not written PAIN."
- "But mummy said it is written PAIN?!?"
- "Let's read it again together", and I take turn to spell it in a more phonetic way: "B, Rrrrr-Aid... BREAD"

My son looks at me. Puzzled. Almost upset. "Daddy, you JUST said it was not 'bread'!!!!".

It is a promising omen for our upcoming reading nights, but I could not refrain from smiling at the prospect.

But why?

Credit photo: Caro Willis via Flickr

Precision questioning: the joy of parenthood.

As you may know, I am the lucky dad of a 3-year old boy. At that age, after the so-called Terrible 2's, it is supposed to be a delight to raise a child: as he is old enough to interact and understand, but still sufficiently young to avoid demonstrating rebellious attitudes. On paper, the ideal. but what this paper's small prints hide from you is that there is still some maintenance to that presumably well-oiled machine. And the keyword is "why?".

Kids want to make sense of their surroundings, of the words, of the people, of philosophical topics and astronomical phenomenons, of the weather, of the behaviour and social conventions... Each of these items is like an endless Russian doll: you start by answering a first seemingly easy question, and it triggers another one, that will raise another one, and another one... After the twentieth interrogations your rational adult brain is no longer able to get the thread of thoughts that led you to answer "why clouds are white?" whilst the conversation started on "what was a can opener?"!

Along the process, you try your best to provide answers that make sense, and keep you on the glorious altar your child puts you on. You are the source of truth. You are a well of wisdom. You are the equal to Aesop, Plato, Homer, Nietzsche, Kant... At least in their eyes, and you certainly don't want to contradict them (it feels so good). But frankly, sometimes their questioning skills are such that you reach the end of your knowledge, and most likely the end of your patience. And suddenly the answer gets less elaborate: "why is the..." he says, "because it's like that!" you interrupt.

Educational non-sense.

If children ask a ton of questions, my personal burden tallies to two tons... That is the curse of raising a bi-cultural kid. Two cultures, two languages, twice the fun. You not only need to handle the Why's but also the Pourquoi's. He clearly dissociates both cultures, so he naturally wants to make sense of twice more things but, to paraphrase Dr. Zeus' Oh, The Places You'll Go!, "sometimes they won't, because they don't".

Let's take the example of this famous nursery rhyme:

Hey diddle diddle,
The Cat and the fiddle,
The Cow jumped over the moon,
The little Dog laughed to see such fun,
And the Dish ran away with the Spoon

You have to reckon that such a infantine text, beyond the rhetorical rhymes is a gold mine for questioning children. How can a cow jump over the moon? Why is the dish running? Why our do plates do not run? Why a fiddle? Why? Why? WHYYYYY?

As a French, I have been educated with La Fontaine's fables and have learned that there is often a moral to what seems to be a light hearted text. So I looked hard at the text trying to find some sense myself from these lines. And since I could not, I started to check between the lines.

A long time ago, Bruno Bettelheim's The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales opened my eyes to the hidden Freudian messages interwoven in Grimm's stories. So as my son was half asleep in his bed, I sat behind his bed, put a pipe in my mouth, and started to say "hmm, hmm...". Diddle? An alteration to Dildo, a phallic symbol? Maybe. The cat? Ok, that is the female symbol, that is straight forward. The cow over the moon? A sexist reference to the providing mother, and the happiness of breast-feeding? Well... I was clearly on the wrong path, and was glad that this thought process had only occurred in my brain and not verbalised to the now fast-asleep child. That would have pushed me down the altar for good.

To regain my pride, I looked at other cultural references and even cryptology. To no avail. Were these lines an acrostic, like The Beatles' Lucy in the Sky with Diamond song? No luck. In the end, I resolved myself to conclude that it may just be one of the famous British non-sense. That was not totally fulfilling an outcome, but quite handy. I could indeed blame my host culture for teaching non-sense to generations of future Eton graduates. Because of course on the other side of the Channel, obviously, we are way better. Aren't we?

Absurdity united

My mind is filled with French songs gathered during my own childhood, but frankly my Why-years are so far behind that I have not questioned or even listed to their lyrics for a very long time. But doing so, it revealed that absurdity was a shared value in nursery times:

Maman, les petits bateaux
French lyrics	English translation
Maman, les petits bateaux	Mum, do small boats
Ont-ils des jambes?	Have legs?
Mais oui mon gros beta	Of course, you silly,
S'ils n'en avaient pas,	If they hadn't,
Ils ne marcheraient pas!	They couldn't walk!

Not only is the child almost bullied by his mother, but seriously what does that song mean? Why would a mother assert that boats are legged? Why? Why? I was suddenly regressing to my 3rd year on Earth. And my convictions collapsed.

If our childhood is nothing but nonsense, how are we supposed to build our psyche? Maybe our children are right in questioning us... After all, the French idiom says that the "truth comes out of children's mouth". So from now on, I give my little one an even greater attention when he turns back to me with his interrogations. I am more patient with the real Plato of the household.

Paris vs. New York by Tony Miotto

When the Big Apple is compared to the City of Lights, that can be enlightening... And this animation by graphic designer Tony Miotto, is clearly a nice source of light. Nice execution on the cultural differences and references of two of most famous cities in the world.

And if you like that split-screen graphic approach, you may enjoy a similar stance on Franco-American relationships with this video (shot with a Nokia phone), and which describes a transatlantic love story.

A mountain dweller in the Washington valleys

A couple years back I had the opportunity to discover Seattle on business, and have since returned quite few times in that city. But I knew there was more to the North-Western region than the SeaTac airport and taxis commuting between my hotel and the company's offices. So this summer, I decided to dwell a little longer than usual in the Washington state, and to discover the Ocean surrounding the liberal harbour of Seattle. If I had been amused by some traits of the Space Needle's home (the passion for salmon, the doubtful kindness, the SUV contradictions, etc.), the Evergreen State brought its lot of interesting cultural encounters...

Size definitely matters.

Yes, let's start with the blatantly obvious. It is so overused a cliche to describe the US as the country of superlatives. Everything is the "world best...", "world #1...", etc. That is at times laughable but one thing you cannot deny is of course that everything is big. Feet, portions, roads, people, drinks, cars... The caravans are so huge that it is not uncommon to see one of these trailers actually pulling a 4x4. You read me right, Dutch reader of these lines, on the other side of the pond, mobile homes are towing the car, and not the smallest! That is probably the so-call American Dream for you, our European summer migrators who every summer cross the French territory, looking for a sunburn...

As said, everything is oversized. Even roadkills are! No flatten hedgehog or mouse on the tarmac of Washington roads. The smallest animal I have seen on the side of the road was a deer... A deer! I mean how can you even run over such a beast? Probably not with a Renault Twingo. But that is probably more understandable when you put yourself in the shoes, or behind the wheels I shall say, of one of the locals... Were you driving one of these giant pick-ups that dwarfs the most ostentatious SUV in Chelsea, it would be hard for you too to see what happens below 2 meters from the ground. They cannot do things small, I tell you... So beware when you cross the road!

Into the "wild".

During our trip, we spend some time touring the stunning Olympic Peninsula. After the great British summer we had in London, we had to extend the pleasure... However the name of this region is not connected to athletic performances, but to the presence of an eponymous Mount Olympus in the middle of its national park. That Park is the host of a rainforest, several Indian reserves, magnificent lakes and equally surprisingly deserted beaches. No wonder this region is inspiring authors of all styles.

Hurricane Ridge for instance is coming straight out of a Disney movie. After a good hour drive uphill amongst enormous trees on a beautiful road, you finally arrive at a pass from which start walks and other alpine wanderings... But rapidly you are welcome by the local "wildlife", with elks crossing your way, giant black grouse singing whilst chipmunks drum the beat... You think I overdo it? Not at all. It was so surreal that we were expecting any minute to see a props man jumping out of a bush and shouting "You've been pranked!".

On the other hand, when you walk along the wild beaches of the western side of the peninsula, you feel you have landed in another type of literature. An eery one. Snow White has bitten the apple and the evil witch is enjoying her supremacy by the sea. The rugged landscapes, bathed in creepy fog and cluttered by rotting log trees were not without reminding me Tolkien's Mordor. I was once pretty sure I saw the shaddow of a troll in the woods, unless that was a pupil walking back from school... That is also possible since, as I eluded to it earlier, the locals are not the smallest beings either. Anyway the eery views of that area inspired  Stephenie Meyer for her bloody trilogy.

Stretching to greatness?

This leads me to my third literature reference... The town where vampires and werewolves supposedly fall in love with girls a lot younger than them (a few centuries younger... Is that legal or should we report this idyll?), Forks proved that the principles outlined by Philip Kotler in his marketing bible have been well assimilated. "Brand stretching" is about using an established brand name in order to introduce unrelated products. Well, the following pictures speak for themselves (click for full screen view):

Arguably that is a bit too much, but had you lived in that same tiny little village before the books' release and seen an influx of +600% in tourists, you too would have probably jumped on the bandwagon and taken these novels as a blessing. Because frankly outside the blockbuster reference, Forks really epitomises the concept of "uninterestingness". The problem, however, is that once you embrace that gorry kitsch, you cannot avoid but seeing vampires everywhere, let alone in medical notifications or native artefact's (is that me or that totem has got pretty sharp teeth???):

Depressive back country?

I seem to be a bit harsh with Forks, but do not let that anomaly derail my overall take on that beautiful region well-managed by the Quileult tribe. We loved hanging around at La Push and watch the sun set on the sacred rocks. That was even a poetic conclusion to that part of our trip, because we then headed South to Oregon and had to drove through less enthusiastic neighbourhoods. If the wild beaches were eluding to a literary devastation, further down it is a lot more literal. Aberdeen in front of all. Besides a river and the "Highland Golf Club" at its outskirt, that town has little to compare with its charming Scottish cousin. The rest is indeed pretty much despair, ruins, closed-down shops... This was home for Kurt Cobain, and frankly you may assume that it was in itself a source of inspiration for the grunge movement!

The logging industry which pulled the regional economy for decades is slowing down nowadays. Smaller towns are drained out in favour of Seattle or Portland, the two urban poles in that part of the country. Although often compared as eternal enemies, the two cities have got a lot in common. As I was saying in introduction, they are liberal harbours in the middle of what is often depicted as the western redneck America. If Canadian proudly sew their flag on their backpack, Seattleites and Portlanders state their beliefs directly on their skin. I am impressed by the amount of ink people carry on their skin around there. Could that be to ensure that people do not see the original colour of their neck?


Anyway... I really enjoyed discovering that region which surprised me in many ways. I was promised rainfall and greeneries. If we indeed saw as much emeralds as last year, not a single drop of rain came to refresh the scenery, which clearly contrasts with our drenched Irish holidays. I liked the possibility to sneak away from the urban jungle and to dive into the rainforest. In light of my origins, I also loved hikking in Mount Rainier, its reflective lakes and its blossoming meadows. I am pretty sure at this stage that with such a description of these alpine surroundings you are expecting blonde Maria coming out of the evergreen woods and complement my list of highlights with a "...Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens; Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens; Brown paper packages tied up with strings; These are a few of my favorite things...", but I don't care. No matter how unlikely Seattle may sound as a summer holiday destination, it is now in my list of recommendations... As long as you can walk around on 2-meter stilt, of course!


To read further:

• A mountain dweller on the Copacabana Beach
• A mountain dweller in the Great Lake valley
• A mountain dweller in the Washington Lake valley
• A mountain dweller in the Þingvellir valley
• A mountain dweller in the valley of Kerry

And some more pictures of that trip:

A mountain dweller on the Copacabana Beach

Let me see the (sun)light.

Despite what I can write every so often, my life is not a pure dichotomy between mountains and valleys. Every now and then I like to explore shores too... Having been drenched in Ireland during what was supposedly a summer break, I was really longing for a proper holiday somewhere exotic enough to finally have a second day of sun this summer. We are fortunate enough to have friends around the world, including a couple who currently live in Brazil and invited us a few times to visit. Sun-starved, this was not to be refused any longer, so there we went.

However before I start, Brazil is such a big country that I will never claim to have visited it. At most I can pretend to have seen Rio and some of its surroundings... That is probably more fair to such a massive geography. And yet that will not prevent me from jotting down some of the fun and puzzling facts that I have experienced during my stay in the auriverde country.

Ordem e progressport

Frankly speaking that should be more appropriate a motto for this nation whose carioca's culture gravitates around the cult of the body. The beaches count more volley ball and beach football courts than towels. The walks alongside them are paved with work-out machines between which joggers and skateboarders slalom half-naked (or half-dressed, depending on how you like to look at your glass).

The number of tattoos is astonishing, but yet again it is understandable when the body is the centre of attention. In a sense, the locals own their bodies. They carve them, develop them, insert a little bit of silicon here, a touch of ink there in order to fully really personalise it. No wonder that in 2011, Brazil was ranked second nation behind the US in terms of number of aesthetic surgery intervention.

Having said that, we are not all equals in this culture of culturism. And I must say that sometimes the flesh on display was not of the greatest appeal. It seems that most of the Rio inhabitants have come to terms with their body, irrespective of how it is And as a result they do not hesitate to put it on display, for the better or the worse:

All good, man.

Well, I say for the better or the worse, but in reality, according to the local idiom only the earlier half of that statement applies to Brazil. "Todo Bom" (e.g. Everything is good) is hammered by everyone all the time. You may even get a double thumb up to accompany that sentence, as if a physical punctuation was required to really land the message.

How are you? Todo Bom! How is the food? Todo bom! Fancy an helicopter flight over the city? Todo bom! Errr, do you have a pilot license? Todo bom! Do you have swimming suits that cover, hmm, a bit more? Todo bom! There is no more milk in the fridge? Todo bom! I crashed your car!? Todo bom! What time is it? Half past two-do bom!

It seems that the Cariocas have simply a very positive stance towards life. Nothing seem to really worry them - to the point that other Brazilians pretend they don't really care about anything. And to a certain extend I can understand that it can put some people off, especially in a business environment. This positive attitude translates into a laid-back stance which easily evolves towards a lack of involvement, an absence of dedication, very loose time commitments, etc.

But on the other hand the absence of stress cannot be blamed, when we all complain that we want to have a better work/life balance. The NGO, suicide.org, was for instance reporting Brazil as only the 73rd nation in terms of suicide rate, with under 4.3 per 100,000 population/per year. That is about a third of the worldwide average.
Why such a positive attitude? Some would argue that it is endemic to folks leaving by the sea, as you find similar traits amongst other insular nations... On the other hand Great Britain is definitely an island and the same positivity does not apply, I can testify. So what next? The influence of sun, sand, s...?  Any of these factors, found in abundance in Rio, may be to blame or hail, again depending on which half of your caipirinha glass you look at (and I must acknowledge that these glasses tend to be too often half empty... Waiter!).

Bottoms up.

Talking about the beverage of choice for any tourist, it is sad to see Brazil being the victim of its own success...
Besides cachaca, a white alcohol derived from sugar cane that is forming the base of the caipirinha cocktail, Brazil is renown for two other sources of beverage: coffee and cocoa. Brazil is in fact the world number one producer and exporter of coffee beans, with over a third of the international trade originated from what is the fifth largest country in the world. Accordingly with the University of Sao Paulo, this has resulted into record breaking revenues for the country in 2011,with 2.8 billions dollars (+43% year on year) being cashed within the first four months of harvest. Similarly it was the 6th cocoa exporter, with over 4.5% of the worldwide trade volumes in 2006.

Good news, you would think, for a country which is willing to accelerate its economic development and diversify its revenue sources... But the problem is that to shine on the international scene, the country exports its best production, leaving its domestic ground with the bitter taste of second tier beans. As such, the coffees served in Brazil are either of mediocre quality or sold at extortionary prices... since they are reimported! Such is the irony of the situation, and the globalisation of the economy.

National pride.

Ironic, but nevertheless accepted by the locals who have to swallow poor chocolate and coffee... But I could not refrain to think that maybe, yes maybe, it may not taste as bad for them as for us tourists? not that their taste buds may be different, or that they are less demanding. The sweetener for them is probably that even if it is a second rated product, it is still a home-grown product, ergo something to be proud of: national pride can make you blind sometimes, look at how East Berliner were proud of the Trabbant for instance! Brazilian are tremendously proud of their country. As a French, I was amazed by the national pride that this country demonstrates. It is a pride that does remind to a certain extend the US or Canada, with flags being displayed everywhere: on masts, on t-shirts, on the beach, on shoes, on the skin, etc.

It is a national pride that does not however translate into obscurantism and chauvinism however. This country knows where it is coming from and what it still needs to accomplish. Yes, corruption is rampant. Yes, protectionism is in place to place the domestic growth behind a wall-garden (random taxes are set up out of the blue on imports, adding 20% to the retail price of a car from one day to the other for instance). Yes, immigration is limited... But on the other hand you cannot help but feel welcome. This may explain why Brazil boasts the largest Japanese community outside Japan for instance. I certainly felt almost at home, maybe too much since I was seeking some exotic if not cultural clashes.

Feeling home in Rio's undergound

Once again judging Brazil through the prism of Rio is probably a pitfall that I do not want to encourage. This country is so vast that the limited exposure that a visit to Rio provides you with is necessarily partial - in all sense of the term. I could not stress more the need to broaden your Brazilian experience beyond the seaside lifestyle and carnival. These are already source of great enthusiasm, but my main take-away is that there is so much more to Brazil than these clichés... Clichés that are true nonetheless.

If you don't believe me, prepare your trip by doing nothing but watching Rio, Disney's latest animation feature, you will be amazed by the accuracy of the carioca details. I already wrote about how these computer animated movie can help boost local tourism, but this film once again proves me right. And if you are not into such movies, well maybe the following pictures I captured during my two weeks will do the trick.

Enjoy the slideshow, enjoy Brazil, enjoy life. After all... TODO BEM!

To read further:

• A mountain dweller in the Great Lake valley
• A mountain dweller in the Washington Lake valley
• A mountain dweller in the Þingvellir valley
• A mountain dweller in the valley of Kerry

The Saturday Shot #20: dead leaves

For this week contribution, it was hard to avoid the fact that London is nowadays covered in leaves... Orange, red, brown tones which are reminding me this brilliant trip we made in Japan a few years back. This same scenery is also a nostalgic glance back at my home country. France's contemporary culture has two important contributors in my eyes, the french surrealist poet Jacques Prévert and singer-actor Yves Montand.

Both contributed to one of my favourite old song of the French repertoire: "Les Feuilles Mortes" or "Autumn Leaves" in English. It is a 1945 French song with music by Joseph Kosma that Yves Montand introduced in 1946 in the film "Les Portes de la Nuit". And I just love it... Hope you'll enjoy it too!

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Les Feuilles Mortes Jacques Prévert - 1945

In French

...and in English (personal translation)

Oh ! je voudrais tant que tu te souviennes Des jours heureux où nous étions amis. En ce temps-là la vie était plus belle, Et le soleil plus brûlant qu'aujourd'hui. Les feuilles mortes se ramassent à la pelle. Tu vois, je n'ai pas oublié... Les feuilles mortes se ramassent à la pelle, Les souvenirs et les regrets aussi Et le vent du nord les emporte Dans la nuit froide de l'oubli. Tu vois, je n'ai pas oublié La chanson que tu me chantais. [Refrain:] C'est une chanson qui nous ressemble. Toi, tu m'aimais et je t'aimais Et nous vivions tous deux ensemble, Toi qui m'aimais, moi qui t'aimais. Mais la vie sépare ceux qui s'aiment, Tout doucement, sans faire de bruit Et la mer efface sur le sable Les pas des amants désunis. Les feuilles mortes se ramassent à la pelle, Les souvenirs et les regrets aussi Mais mon amour silencieux et fidèle Sourit toujours et remercie la vie. Je t'aimais tant, tu étais si jolie. Comment veux-tu que je t'oublie ? En ce temps-là, la vie était plus belle Et le soleil plus brûlant qu'aujourd'hui. Tu étais ma plus douce amie Mais je n'ai que faire des regrets Et la chanson que tu chantais, Toujours, toujours je l'entendrai ! [Refrain]

Oh! I wish you could remember The happy days when we were friends. In these days life was more beautiful, And the sun burning more than today. Autumn leaves are collected by shovels. You see, I have not forgotten... Autumn leaves are collected by shovels, Memories and regrets too. And the Northern wind blows them away In the cold night of oblivion. You see, I have not forgotten That song you sang me. [Refrain:] This is a song which sounds like us. You loved me, and I loved you And both of us lived together, You who loved me, me who loved you. But life separates those who love, Softly, without a noise And the sea erases on the sand The steps of divided lovers. Autumn leaves are collected by shovels, Memories and regrets too But my quiet and faithful love Keeps on smiling and thanks life I loved you so much, you were so pretty. How could I ever forget you? In these days, life was more beautiful And the sun burning more than today. You were my tenderest friend And I could not care less about regrets That song you sang, Always, always I will hear it! [ Refrain: ]

Learn to hear English

You hear me, but do you listen?

School teachers focus on making us learn to speak English... But it is only with a bit more experience and immersion in the local culture that you actually manage to hear English.

Bear with me here, as I am not talking about what is verbally articulated, I in fact mean of what is actually said. There is a significant nuance for a nation that masters the art of understatement and self-deprecation.

The following table for instance has been recently circulated around in my company, probably to help our dearest colleagues in the US translate what really happens in meetings. After all, America and England are two nations divided by a common language...

Enjoy your next meetings with the Brits... Cup of tea anyone?


To read further:

• Language on a life line, David Mitchell's rant about endangered local languages
• The Italian job, a classical on accents and misunderstandings
• A, B, C, Ki , Wi or how to understand the folks from New Zealand

A, B, C, Ki , Wi

Busy B

I have rarely the time to post on my blog those days with a pretty busy work agenda, and a growing little one... The latter is growing fast and is now on the verge to hammer us with extensive questions about everything in life. He is about to speak.

Fortunately for us, his parents, we still have a few more years to go before he becomes fluently eloquent and proficient in Shakespeare's tongue. It is indeed already upsetting for us that our toddler can already correct your English accent whereas he only master a few words.

Evil plan.

I am in fact starting to think that we may want to impair his development, just to protect what is left of our ego. We already started in fact as we signed him up in a nursery with pan-European care-takers so his accent may be influenced by mainland inspirations. Not really succesful. The next step is probably to dial up the obstacle and get him a nanny from New Zealand. I personally love their accent, it makes me laugh as loud as an exploding Rainbow Warrior boat.

To give you a flair of how daunting a task it is to understand the Kiwis, here is a little guide in the form of a ABC... A song that is now becoming a true earworm.

Excuse my F...

Fries, letters, beans, toasts, doors, doctors, kiss but also manucures, knickers, horn, dressing, Riviera, chalk, polish, mustard, connection or paradox... Get over it, the French seem to be good at quite a few things!