Hello world!
An introduction to Augmented Ivan
I’m not sure how to start this. How do I take the first step on a journey that I find… daunting? I’ll be honest: I’ve hesitated starting this Substack for months. But like with most things, I guess the best way to start is to say, “F*** it,” and just do it.
So here I am. Hi, my name is Ivan, and I’m a poet, storyteller, communications lead, and AI enthusiast trying to figure out and record who I am in this age of augmentation. Because, ultimately, that’s what creative self-expression is: introspection.
But that doesn’t tell you much about me, so let’s just dive into some of the questions you might have.
Who am I?
I’ve often heard that what one does for a living doesn’t really tell you much about the person and that they’re more than their titles (this is maybe more significant today in this AI era). You’re supposed to give a deeper, more meaningful explanation of who you are.
So here are a few facts about me:
I love “Love.” That’s what my wife tells me. I love the idea of it, love listening to people speak about it, love watching people express it, whether it’s romantic, platonic, familial, or love of self. I write about it a lot in my poetry - and I also write about life’s lessons and the pursuit of dreams.
I’m a recovering perfectionist overthinker who, for a while, managed to just put poems – and myself – out there without obsessing over them. It helped me become proficient at publishing my work, but I now find myself having to try to shake off the overthinking again.
I’m also a planner who likes to break things down into processes and figure out how to improve them. I’d say that’s where my enthusiasm for AI and agentic workflows starts. I see AI as a tool that can save me time in my professional (I like to work smart, not hard) and personal life. It also allows me to bring ideas to life that were stuck in my head.
My wife will tell you that I tend to see the world in black and white, but I’m really trying to add a healthy amount of grey to my perspective. I promise I am. Take AI, for example: some hate it and don’t want to use it, and others think it should be in everything. I certainly don’t think it should be everywhere (especially on apps suggesting what to write to a friend or loved one, ugh), but it does have its use cases (mostly for work within organizations).
Like many artists, I’m an introvert who protects his space and – more importantly – his peace. Yet, for some reason, we expressive introverts willingly step on stages to lay our souls bare for all to see. We’re a crazy bunch. Life seemed simpler when we’d create alone, in our rooms. Now we’re just… out here, outside.
Lately, I’ve been admiring forests – not walking in them, I’d easily get lost, and my relationship with gluten means I likely wouldn’t have enough breadcrumbs to trace my way back where I live. No, I mean staring at them and getting lost in their beauty (from afar). I believe it’s a consequence of spending most of my time on screens and in the digital space. I now crave nature and what’s real – the sounds and sights of trees moving gently with the wind; the songs birds sing; the colors in the sky at sunset and sunrise. I see a forest, I stop and stare.
I’m a big proponent of artistic self-expression – it allows you to discover yourself and gain a deeper understanding of the world around you. In fact, I once gave a TEDx talk on it, which you can watch below.
You’ll learn more about me through my work – maybe you’ll know more about me than I do. I believe that there’s more of me hidden in between the lines than in the words I write.
What is Augmented Ivan?
Augmented Ivan is my digital garden – the space where I express myself and where you discover the duality within me:
The perfectionist expressing his flaws
The man who seeks natural beauty but gazes at the digital world
The planner trying to go with the flow
The human trying to master his demons
The curious introvert sharing what he knows (and what he doesn’t)
The artist and the employee
This space is meant to hold everything I feel comfortable discovering and sharing with the world. It’s also meant to record how I, as an artist and human, evolve – hence the “Augmented” bit.
Looking back on the past 12 years, I’ve changed significantly through different phases. I’ve gone from amateur poet to spoken word artist, then poetry event organizer, then interactive storyteller, and even comedy night organizer for a bit. Then the pandemic hit, and things simply stopped. I stopped creating for the love of it, became more withdrawn than I was before, and focused on creating content for paychecks.
You and I now find ourselves here: the phase in which I feel the need to create and express myself again. I don’t know if I can be the talented poet and storyteller I once was, but I’m looking for him.
The world that part of me thrived in has changed, however. We now live in a time when (almost) anything is possible. Where ideas are a few prompts away from ‘existing’. So there’s also that to figure out: how do I best bring my ideas to life?
Welcome to the Augmented Ivan phase of my life.
Why am I doing this?
Simple. For the same reason I’ve always written and expressed myself: I want to be remembered; to tell the world I was here; to say, “This is who I am.”
“You can’t sit around and wait for somebody to say who you are. You need to write it and paint it and do it.” – Faith Ringgold
I want to attain immortality. Not physically – I don’t think I’d enjoy that, and there’s beauty in the finite – but through my words.
What should you expect from this Substack?
Ever seen a botanical garden where everything is perfectly structured into geometrical areas, and all the flora is cut according to specific measurements? I haven’t, and I wouldn’t want to.
This garden will be more ‘curated chaos’. Creativity, after all, requires a bit of chaos to come to life. So here’s what you’ll find:
My written poems (old and new ones)
AI-augmented videos for some of my favorite poems
Explainer videos on how I use AI
Thoughts and essays on topics that matter to me or that I’m curious about
Anything else I think of down the line
I want to make this space as authentic as possible, so here are some ground rules I’ve set for myself:
The words are mine: Whether written or spoken, what you read and hear will come from me – not LLMs. I’m no AI or tech expert (yet), and I do not pretend to know it all, but one thing I do pride myself on is my writing ability. My pen game has made crowds laugh, cry, and feel deeply. I cannot leave that to some software.
Disclosure of AI usage: You will always find a list of the AI tools I use at the end of each post.
No content for the sake of content: I am not an AI influencer, nor can I be one while maintaining my sanity. This tech niche moves at a speed I cannot keep up with. I will not update you on the latest models or tools – others can do that, and I appreciate them for doing so. I’d like to share how I use some of them, but I don’t have the time to post here according to a content calendar. I might go quiet sometimes. Bear with me, I have a family, work, and life in general to prioritize.
How do we start this journey together?
Start by subscribing to this Substack if you like what you’ve read so far. And leave a comment if you’d like to start a conversation, or a “Hi!” if you’d like to let me know you read this entire post.
I’m truly grateful for the time you’ve given me and my writing, and I hope to see you around!
AI use in this post: