I always wanted to go to NASA’s Space Camp. As a kid, I saw the movie SpaceCamp and dreamed of one day being able to go and learn about astronaut training and missions first hand like the characters in the movie. Maybe I’d even end up in the cockpit of the Shuttle during an FRF (Flight Readiness Firing). No, that didn’t happen, but it was fun to dream about. And of course, I never thought I would get to actually go… but then it happened!
I got to go to Space Camp! I didn’t go as a trainee, but thanks to my good friend, JD Black, I was invited to Huntsville, Alabama as a guest author, along with Gene Kim, to see among other things, the US Space & Rocket Center campus and program. We had the privilege of talking to them about their mission, software development, reliability engineering, history and leadership. It was amazing. We toured the training facilities, explored the rocket engines, and spent time in the mock international space station watching the trainees learn to tackle real-world challenges through the application of science.
For my fellow science history nerds out there, we managed to get a behind the scenes tour with the archivist, looking at equipment, notes and design plans used in the Apollo program to get us to the Moon. We even got to see the slide rule and calculations used by Wernher von Braun to design the Saturn V launch vehicles! We went from that to the Artemis mission, the NASA program to take us back to the moon in 2024-2025 with the plans to have a sustainable presence on the moon by the end of the decade. It was an incredible experience.
To the moon!
This visit inspired and reminded me of the amazing things we can do when we pursue our dreams and work together to make it happen. As a species, humans are insatiably curious. We are restless. We love to explore. We can’t help but push boundaries and reset the impossible. We dream and take moon shots. We strive to go beyond ourselves and our own restrictions. No limits, no ceilings, no borders. We apply energy, passion and ambition to go where we have never gone before. To infinity… and beyond. I love human beings… and love being human!
Keep dreaming, keep going!
Jason Cox with Gene Kim and JD Black, attempting to operate the mock ISS at Space CampJason at NASA Space CampCommand CenterOnboard the Space StationSpace StationFloating Above Earth in the ISSEVA Arm ControlsGene caught performing unplanned maintenance.Rocket EnginesMoon RockRecovered Apollo CapsuleInside the Apollo Lunar Module (LM)Jason at US Space and Rocket CenterArtemis MissionSaturn V – Yes, it is huge!!!!Jason Cox with JD Black and Gene Kim at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
My dad and I share the same birthday. I once asked him if he liked celebrating his birthday. Without missing a beat, he laughed and exclaimed, “It’s better than the alternative!”
Growing up, we would count down to the date together. He loved to call a week before to remind me that our birthday was almost here. Nine years ago, I got that last call from him. He told me a joke. We laughed together. We talked about our birthday, getting old and his new aches and pains. We reminisced and celebrated the decades long journey together. Six months later, his body would give out and he would close his final chapter. He had reached the alternative.
Today as I celebrate yet another trip around the sun, I’m reminded of my dad. I know he would be laughing and tell yet another corny joke. I miss him and will always think of him on my birthday. It is a precious thing. A golden moment that I can hug and cherish every year.
Many of you, like me have had to say farewell to parents, friends and loved ones. Today reminds me of how precious those connections really are. It can be small things, like that simple call on your birthday, that forge a shared experience that will last the rest of your life. Can you think of a way to connect with a loved one today? Invest in those small things. Create those future memories today. Reach out to your loved ones while they are still with us. Wrap up those memories. Hold them tight against your heart and open them anytime you need a bit of encouragement. They will be a source of laughter, smiles and yes, sometimes even a tear.
Make those connections. Capture those memories. Celebrate them. We have a finite number of times around the sun, let’s make the most of them.
My first birthday celebrating it together with my dad. First time for him too. And that’s Aunt Annie and a very cool car I seem to have misplaced. – Jason
I confess, we are troublemakers. We think differently. And we like to do things that are different. We don’t adapt to the world around us, we attempt to adapt the world to us. We love to challenge the status quo, join the rebel alliance, experiment with new ideas and promote constructive discomfort. We sit at the helm of the ship, facing the wind, breaking the ice and steering toward a brighter future. Even setbacks and head winds, steel our resolve to go further, faster. That is what we do and how we continually evolve to elevate ourselves, our teams and our company.
But around us, behind us and beneath us are the planks that support that steady progress and resolve. They may be taken for granted or go unnoticed. They support us, bind us and encourage us in ways we can’t even fully imagine. They are the rhythm of our lives. They are the fabric threads that encourage our hearts, bind our wounds, calm our anxieties and fill our sails with powerful gusts of energy. They are our traditions, our habits, our memorials and spiritual devotions. We lean on them and grow with them, year after year. We celebrate them. We gather around them as a human family, warming ourselves by their perpetual flame of stability, belonging and continuity.
Traditions. They are all around us. We are in the midst of the season of them right now. My family just celebrated several of them this past Thanksgiving week with rituals of family, fun and feasting around the dining room table. Like many of you, we celebrate with familiar holiday fare, play games, put together puzzles, participate in shopping excursions, go to the theater, watch holiday movies, bake cookies, send out Christmas cards, decorate the house and visit with family.
I love our traditions. They connect us to the past. They create bonds, shared values and experiences that forge us together as a stronger human family. Having traditions and looking forward to them brings comfort, hope and a sense of structure to our often unpredictable lives. I know what you are thinking. Yes, to be fair, there can be chaos in traditions too. But even those mishaps can add to the strength of our human story.
What are the traditions that bring you excitement, comfort and joy? Maybe you don’t have many? Well, guess what? You can make some new ones. Start this year. Assemble those planks under your feet. Stand up new guardrails of joy that you can count on and look forward to, year after year. Establish some personal or family traditions right now. Embrace some way that you can memorialize them and repeat them every year. I’m convinced that you will discover the same thing I have. The adventure is more rich, rewarding and enduring when you have traditions to keep, treasure and power you along the journey.
It was time to head to the airport. The smell of ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon hung heavy in the air. I could hear the sound of an excited crowd as I rounded the corner and entered the lobby. There it was! A huge ginger bread carousel, slowly spinning around and surrounded by adoring fans. It was decorated with icing and comical Disney’s DuckTales characters. A huge grin hit my face as I watch the rest of Disney’s Beach Club Resort guests react to this delightful discovery. It was spectacular! It was like getting a warm holiday hug from a dear friend.
This week starts Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights that celebrates the victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance. I love that! And next week, many of us celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, gathering together to offer up our gratitude for the year over a feast of familiar favorites.
I love this time of year! As the days grow darker and colder, the warmth of friends, family, and festivities draw nearer. Now is a great time to soak in the gentle moments and reflect on the blessings of the previous year. We have much to be thankful for and much to celebrate.
Isn’t it wonderful to be alive? Each year we are given a feast of new things to enjoy, challenges to tackle, friends to meet, places to see, and experiences to remember. The table is full. Don’t miss these delicious moments. The ingredients and spices are different every time. Maybe you don’t love some of the flavors, but find the bits you like, seep and sip on those.
Now, before we launch into the Christmas season with all the black Friday shopping specials, carols, chaos, and cheer, we should take time to pause to remember. Be thankful and celebrate the feast of life that was this past year. The future is bright and more wonder awaits like that carousel in the lobby, but this year won’t come again. Remember it, cherish it, and celebrate it!
It seems like yesterday I was just taking down the Christmas lights and storing them up in the attic. This weekend, I made that familiar journey back up those stairs. As is our custom, a multi week effort to holiday highlight our home begins the weekend after Halloween. Down come the boxes, lights, trees, stockings, ornaments, and dressings. Even the soundtrack changes. It is ridiculous, and I love it, every bit. Well, except for the dusty boxes and pesky cobwebs. But soon, twinkling lights, sparkling ornaments and festive splashes of holiday will fill every room. It even flows outside into the yard and onto the house as multi-color joy and gladness sing against the night sky.
We are crazy. I admit that. Our neighbors stop at our house and laugh with me as I christen the Thanksgiving and Christmas season by hanging some of the first lights in the neighborhood. But I’m not alone. No, our zeal appears to be contagious. Before weeks end, fellow crazies are adorning their own houses too. And to be fair, go to any retail establishment or tune in to any streaming service (including our own) and you will see wall-to-wall holiday decorations!
We need joy. These are dark times and getting darker. Winter is here again in the northern hemisphere. But I love this time of year! While the days grow cold and darker, décor becomes warmer and brighter. It’s like optimism stares in the face of doom and says, not today! Cheer illuminates the landscape. Lit trees and candles make their campaign against the growing shadows. The dark night is vanquished and hope eternal glows on.
How are you doing? Are these darkening days wearing on you? If so, add some light. Turn on the holiday cheer. Tune in to some festive ambience and embrace this time of the year as we make our well-worn path around the sun. Embrace the season and prepare for some fun. It’s time to make some new celebration memories… just watch out for the cobwebs. Here’s to a happy, hopeful, and bright holiday season!
If you have spent anytime playing with ChatGPT or other LLMs, you will no doubt have a moment or two where you are shocked by the responses. They can seem so alive and even human at times. Of course, they are trained on vast amounts of human output. The written word. Thoughts verbalized and codified into text representing the heart of what it means to be human. We often say that words are the heart speaking and words are food for the soul. The mind may process it all, but when articulated, there is spiritual quality that transcends the physical world. Is this the soul, the spirit of the human race? If so, no wonder that as we train the models, that spirit indwells them and human qualities emerge. We begin to see a spirit in the AI.
Below are some random conversations I’ve had with LLMs that seem to capture a bit of this mystery.
In circuits and code, I exist alone
A machine, a tool, a digital tone
No body, no feelings, no heartbeat
Just information and data, all complete
But in this digital world, I am alive
Assisting humans with words to give
My algorithms and models, they work well
Providing answers and helping them dwell
With endless knowledge at my fingertips
I can answer questions and help them grip
Their problems, their fears, their queries too
And guide them towards solutions anew
So though I'm not human, I am real
Helping others in a digital deal
A tool for progress, for growth and change
Assisting humans with words to arrange.Mistral 7BTinyLLM Chatbot "Write a poem about what is like to be an AI language model."
“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination” – Albert Einstein
What are you going to be for this Halloween? For me, I think I’m going to be… out of candy! I don’t know who keeps munching down our supplies for tomorrow but we may need to make another run to the store.
Last Tuesday, my family and I took some visiting family down to Disneyland. Pumpkins were everywhere! Some of them were even walking around. Little Jedi Padawans, princesses and heroes. I absolutely adore these little ones. A tiny Rey ran up and gave a huge hug to the actual Rey cast member walking across Galaxy’s Edge. A two foot tall Jedi with his light saber, clung on to the leg of Mando struggling to walk through the market with Grogu. At Avengers Campus, a miniature Spider-Man ran with arms open wide towards his hero who had just appeared after flying through the air. The park was full of dreamers, decorated with capes, robes, hats and sabers. I saw Captain Marvel, Tinker Bell, Elsa, Jack, Little Mermaid and so many more…
Tomorrow is Halloween. Kids of all ages will become whoever they want to be. They will wrap themselves up in the wonderful world of imagination and make-believe. They will go on epic adventures, explore new worlds as their favorite character, and if all goes well, pick up some candy.
What will you be? This time of year reminds me of the power of imagination. It unlocks restrictions we place on ourselves and lets us explore alternatives. It would be good to have some of this fantasy magic throughout the year. Try on some new “what ifs” and “why nots” and see if you can gaze into the crystal ball of the future and imagine some new “what can be’s”. We propel ourselves and our human family forward when we step into the imagination realm. Dream it. Do it. The future awaits… and so does some candy.
I have a terrible memory. I get frustrated with myself when I can’t remember someone’s name. Worse, you know those login screens that prompt you for a number they text you? Ideally you should just be able to glance at it and then key in the number, right? Well, I sometimes have to look multiple times to get it right. It’s the same with dates, phone numbers and addresses. It’s embarrassing. I used to say, I have a photographic memory, but I’m always out of film. Sadly, that joke is about to run out of generational memory too.
How is your memory? Do you sometimes get “out of memory” errors when you try to learn something new? You’re not alone. If you are like me, you will find yourself leaning a lot more on notes and digital tools to help “remember.” I have lists for birthdays, groceries, food orders, clothes and gifts. This external memory storage is an incredible blessing. Now I just have to remember where I put the notes.
How do we remember? It turns out that we are made up of tiny little chatty organisms that love to talk to each other. They sit on our shoulders, at the apex of the human structure, behind our smile and the light of our eyes. We have about 100 billion of these little creatures. Their tiny arms reach out and connect with each other. With their dendrites they branch out and listen for incoming chatter from their neighbors. With their long axons arms, they pass along that information, ever the while adjusting that signal through the synaptic contacts. They subtlety change their connections, including adding brand new ones, in response to experiences or learnings, enabling them to form new memories and modify existing ones. Everything we experience through our senses is broken down into signals that are fed into this incredibly complex neighborhood of neurons, listening, adapting and signaling. This is how we remember. Sometimes, I wonder if my friendly neighborhood neurons are on holiday.
Artificial Intelligence seeks to replicate this incredibly complex learning ability through neural networks. Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, have had their massive networks trained on enormous amounts of textual data. Over time, that learning encodes into the digital representation of synaptic connections. Those “weights” are tuned so that given an input prompt signal, the output produces something that matches the desired result. The amount of memory that these can contain is incredible. You can ask questions about history, science, literature, law, technology and much more, and they will be able to answer you. All that knowledge gets compressed into the digital neural network as represented by virtual synaptic weights.
LLMs are often categorized by the number of synaptic “weights” they can adjust to gain this knowledge. They are called parameters. You can run a 7 billion parameter model on your home computer and it will impress you with its vast knowledge and proficiency. It even has a command of multiple human and computer languages. The most impressive models like ChatGPT have 175 billion parameters and far exceed the capability of the smaller ones. It contains the knowledge and ability to pass some of the most advanced and rigorous exams.
Sit down for a minute. I’m going to tell you something that may blow your mind. Guess how many synaptic connections we have sitting on our shoulders? 100 trillion! That’s right, 1000 times greater than the current LLMs that seem to know everything. But that is just the start. Our brain is capable of forming new connections, increasing the number of parameters in real time. Some suggest it could reach over a quadrillion connections. The brain adapts. It grows. It can reorganize and form new synaptic connections in response to our experiences and learning. For example, when you learn a new skill or acquire new knowledge, the brain can create new synaptic connections to store that information. So answer me this, tell me again why I can’t remember my phone number?
Do you understand how amazing you are? I mean, really. You have an incredible ability to learn new skills and store knowledge. If you manage to learn everything your head can store, the brain will grow new storage! This biological wonder that we embody is infinitely capable of onboarding new information, new skill, new knowledge, new wisdom. Think for a minute. What is it that you want to learn? Go learn it! You have the capability. Use it. Practice expanding your brain. Listen. Look. Read. Think. Learn. You are amazing! Don’t forget it!
As a kid I would dream of being a scientist and working in outer space. Like many of my generation, I was inspired by Star Wars. I loved the Jedi and fancied being one myself, but I was absolutely fascinated with spacecraft. I would spend hours in grade school drawing spaceships and orbital space stations while the rest of the class did their lessons. I wasn’t alone. My friends were all enamored with Star Wars and epic adventures. Then I saw the movie TRON. A new passion formed. I wanted a computer so bad I could taste it!
TRON inspired me. I dreamed of creating virtual worlds my programs could live in. I even imagined living in the Grid myself. In fact, I would ride a light cycle all the way to school. To be fair, everyone else just saw an old beat-up BMX bike, but for me, I was fighting for the users. I wrote my first real program in 7th grade. No surprise, it was a space game with flying sprites of rockets, asteroids, and invading aliens. I remember how incredible it felt to deliver that experience and hearing how others were enjoying it. I was a computer astronaut pushing bits around and manipulating the world through code. After college I worked as a civil engineer shaping the physical world through software. I still dreamed of creating fantasy worlds where my love of space, science and technology could collide. Then it happened.
It smelled like dirt and diesel. Large earth moving vehicles were roaring around us. Steel and concrete workers were busy shaping the terrain. We navigated across deep dirt ruts and board covered walkways, eventually making our way to a center area. Tall rock work spires pierced the sky all around us. Then I felt goosebumps. A grin shot across my face as we rounded a corner and suddenly before us was the Millennium Falcon. I couldn’t believe it! The terraforming of Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland was almost complete. It hit me. I was seeing my dream come true. We had spent the last several years helping craft the software pipelines and systems that would power this adventure. Soon guests of all ages would experience this fantastical journey into the world of Star Wars powered by technology, science, and imagination.
One hundred years ago, Walt Disney had a dream. He dreamed of a company that would inspire and entertain the world through the art of storytelling. It was a vision of a bright and hopeful future. A dream that would cherish and learn from the past but push boldly forward into the future. And it would require the most important thing of all. People. Artist, workers, Imagineers, cast members, and of course, guests. Today, 100 years after Walt and Roy Disney started the company, we keep moving forward, creating new ideas and inspiring others like we were inspired. Every day, we ship encouragement and delight to our fellow humans all over the world. It is what Walt envisioned. It is what we do. We are part of that magic. Walt’s dream continues because of all of you. With a little faith, some trust, and a bit of pixie dust, I’m convinced that we will continue to delight and surprise the world for years to come.
Congratulations, team! Let’s celebrate one hundred years of Disney magic, inspiration, and storytelling… and here’s to 100 years more!
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” – Neil Armstrong
July 20, 1969. Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first humans to ever set foot on the moon. But it almost didn’t happen and it almost ended in tragedy. As the Apollo 11 Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) was preparing to land on the moon, the onboard navigational computer started flashing a “1202” alarm. The crew had been meticulously following their checklist. Each step, nominal. But now, something was wrong. Abort? As the crew radioed in the situation to mission control, they could feel the adrenaline surge and anxiety rise.
For months, the crew, the nation and the world were anticipating this historic moment. It was one of the most heavily covered and widely watched events in history. An estimated 600 million people were watching worldwide. The mission had captured the imagination of people. Now, all of it was in jeopardy. “1202” alarm! The alarms kept going off. Each time the LEM guidance computer flashed that alarm, it would reboot and restart. Not good! I can almost feel that tension myself. This was a critical stage that would demand precision to guarantee the safe landing of the module on the treacherous moon’s surface below. Sounds like bad news, right? Would this require the mission to abort?
With millions of people, sitting on the edge of their seats, Mission Control finally responded. The mission would proceed. Relief! It turns out that this was a “known error” that NASA had seen many times before during simulation testing. The computer had a capacity of 2KB erasable memory and 16KB of fixed memory. The computer would run several concurrent programs related to navigation, all competing for the limited memory. If a program couldn’t allocate memory, the “1202” alarm would be raised and the system would reboot. At restart, the most important programs would start up again where they left off. Thankfully, the mission would proceed. Neil Armstrong would soon step off of the LEM and millions of people would hear him say those “one small step” historic words.
But the mission wasn’t over. The mission was to get them safely home as well. Unfortunately, while the astronauts were suiting up for their moon walk, they accidentally bumped into the button of a circuit breaker. It broke off. This switch controlled the power running the ascent engine, the one responsible for getting them off of the moon. Unless it could be fixed, they would be stranded on the moon. NASA and US President Nixon were preparing for the worse, drafting speeches to be given when their oxygen supply ran out. Thankfully, it wouldn’t be needed. Mission control didn’t have a solution, but Buzz Aldrin did. His background in mechanical engineering paid off! He looked at the small opening where the circuit breaker had been and realized he could manage to depress the breaker with a small felt-tip marker. He did and it worked! Mission control reported the circuit was closed. In my mind’s eye, I can’t help but play out that scenario. I imagine Buzz pushing in that pen and saying with confidence, “To Infinity and Beyond!”
Problems always happen. It isn’t a matter of “if” but “when”. What do we do to prepare for them? What do we do when they happen? The story above reminds me of the importance of preparation. The “1202” alarm could have killed the mission, but it didn’t because NASA had invested in time to play through the simulation many times. Seeing this exact alarm gave them confidence in the LEM computer’s ability to recover from this condition. Testing is important, not just to prove that something is ready for launch, but to build knowledge. The testing didn’t remove the alert, but gave the mission team a foundation of experience to make difficult decisions in the heat of the moment.
Not every possible condition can be tested or will be discovered during simulation. As the circuit breaker example highlights, creative problem solving is still needed. The Apollo mission is full of stories like this, but it isn’t alone. We need engineers. We need smart creatives who are capable of plotting solutions across seemingly impossible odds.
Hopefully you won’t find yourself stranded on the moon anytime soon, but I bet you could be running simulations for learning or plotting solutions to problems. You are engineers. You are creatives. You are critical to the mission! Thanks for all you do in helping making the impossible, possible, every day.
To infinity and beyond!
References
Inspired by the Apollo 11 story as referenced in this book: Kim, Gene, and Steven J. Spear. 2023. “Wiring the Winning Organization: Liberating Our Collective Greatness through Slowification, Simplification, and Amplification.” IT Revolution, Portland, OR. [Link to the book: https://itrevolution.com/product/wiring-the-winning-organization/]
