Visiting Teotihuacan made me think a lot about human sacrifice and Christianity.
Maybe when the Spanish came, the story of a God who became human and sacrificed himself for everyone's sins would have been compelling to people from a culture where sacrifice already had such a powerful religious meaning.
Basically, there was no need for more human sacrifices because God himself had already become the sacrifice. I'm not sure if there's any historical basis for this. It's just a theory I kept thinking about while I was there.
It also made me think about how civilizations and beliefs that seem permanent can eventually disappear or be replaced. The people then probably didn't expect their world to change so completely, just as we don't know how people in the future will see ours.
Everything is temporary. Civilizations rise and fall, and beliefs change. Yet humanity's search for God somehow seems to persist.
Today I explored Mexico City's Historic Center. At first, I would have described it as Manila's Intramuros but on steroids. However, the more I explored, the more I realized how little of the Spanish colonial influence remains visibly preserved in the Philippines by comparison. What remains sometimes feels like crumbs. Intramuros pales in comparison.
In Mexico, everything feels grand and historically continuous. Most obviously, Spanish remains the dominant language. At the same time, it was beautiful to see how Indigenous cultures remain present and blend with modern Mexican identity.
And the museums! don't even get me started! I honestly couldn't think of anything comparable in the Philippines.
For some reason, it made me sad. Mexico and the Philippines were both colonized by Spain, became predominantly Catholic, and share certain cultural similarities. Yet standing there, I felt that the Philippines had somehow been left behind; not only in development, but also in how clearly it presents its identity.
Mexico City has an extensive Metro system. Its minimum wage is considerably higher than in much of the Philippines, while many everyday things somehow felt cheaper. I know Mexico has problems of its own, but I couldn't stop feeling how far behind the Philippines has fallen or how little progress we seem to have made.
Of course, saying that the Philippines has "no identity" would be unfair. Perhaps being so mixed and even diluted is itself part of our identity. Maybe what I really felt was that Filipino identity seems more fragmented, layered, and less visibly preserved.
This was only my first impression, but exploring Mexico City's Historic Center unexpectedly changed how I see the Philippines and its colonial past. Before coming here, I often brought up Spain's influence on the Philippines and the shared history connecting the Philippines and Mexico through the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade. After seeing the contrast firsthand, I almost don't want to bring it up anymore.
While charging, my iPad suddenly went into a reboot loop. I did a quick Google search for fixes, which eventually led me to Gemini, but it was NOT helpful at all. It seems like it was avoiding any responsibility just in case I brick my device.
I've been trying to "like" Gemini since it's our main AI tool in the office, but I just can't seem to like it. Its responses are too generic, sometimes even outdated or wrong, and it couldn't keep up with the conversation. 🙄
Needless to say, I moved to ChatGPT and, as usual, had a smooth experience. ChatGPT gets me. We vibe. 😂 With Gemini, I’m not sure. I feel like it's all over the place.
Anyway, I was able to reset my iPad. I feel like the issue was caused by an automatic update or something. I've actually been trying to keep it on iPadOS 18 since it's a 5th generation iPad mini, but resetting it basically forced me to update to iPadOS 26. Surprisingly, it's smooth so far, but I can't wait for the next mini.
ChatGPT emphasizes that it is not perfect, that at its core it is an LLM that predicts the next likely token, that decisions must still be made by humans, and that the level of human oversight should depend on the risk involved, even as they promote Work Agent for complex reasoning tasks.
HOWEVER, as humans become increasingly reliant on it, I wonder if we will still have the capacity to actually check and make sound decisions. 🙊
With agents, AI can help you analyze information and data. But how would one know if the data and analysis are correct if we already lost the capacity to understand them without relying on AI? 🙉
I already see this happening. People cannot move or make decisions without checking with AI first. Not that this is bad, because humans still set the context, and I think this is the most important thing. Probably the most "original" thing left.
But I don't think most people bother to properly set the context or provide enough grounding. Everyone just relies on general search and generic prompts, which eventually makes everyone's output generic. 🙈
Apple Pay is now available in the Philippines. Soon, online stores will support it too. Personally, I decide much faster when I see a Pay with Apple Pay button 😅 It's just so convenient lol
https://t.co/FWyKvEgrGY