I'm a little late for the show, but here is my

Year 2023 in Review

I'm not exaggerating if I say that 2023 has been the toughest and at the same time most fulfilling years I've ever lived through.

Here is what happened.

⚕️ Health

While being on track with my health goals for most of the year, I experienced a major setback in the summer of '23: A viral infection left me in a questionable state, to say the least. I won't go into details here in public but the good part is that after months of medical investigation – I really felt like a patient in Dr. House, it is gone, and so are any residuals. It wasn't lupus, though.

Anyway, this strange and frightening stuff happened – like always in these cases – at a time which couldn't have been worse. Lots of changes – both in my personal life as well as in my professional life – were knocking at the door. Some chances were passing while I couldn't let them in and others paid back all the more.

In late summer, however, I was on a good path to get back on track. I tried new medical treatments, like high-dose amino acid infusions, and NMN+ infusions (that thing was the most painful thing I've ever endured), and I have tightened up my training plan by a lot. Along with the continuous monitoring of blood work, MRIs, Dexa scans, EEGs and ECGs, this helped a lot to get me back on track.

Key takeaway: The realization that things can really go south makes it all the more important to prioritize your own health. Keep going!

Tools used: Of all the new tools I've tried, NMN+ infusions seem to be a dealbreaker. It complemented the standard medical procedure for the infection.

☕ Community

"It’s about people." – I wrote that in last year's review. This year, it is even more important.

Community, that includes family, friends, neighbours, and a professional network. I found so much love, support, friendship and goodwill in 2023 that I will be forever grateful for that.

Also, I was able to speak at THAT Conference in Wisconsin (about EXPLAIN and the history of programming) which was such an amazing experience that I spoke at the same conference in Texas in January 2024 again.

🧠 Mindset

The most important driver for my mindset in 2023 has been: Gratefulness. Apart from that, ideas from last year stuck with me. Journalling, walking, and occasional micro-dosing still stick as habits.

Predictions

Last Years Predictions

Let's see what happened:

Tech Layoffs and Decreasing Housing Prices

Tech layoffs continued as expected and have even accelerated, housing prices went down in some of Europe's metropolitan areas, as well as in the US.
Housing prices not only went down because of the situation in the tech industry but also because of rising interest rates.

Generative AI

With NVIDIA stock price skyrocketing, AI has become the hype of 2023, and probably 2024 as well.
We already saw commoditized usage, such as AI-generated news – and, we've discovered the first flaws along the way.

I would, however, have expected more of these flaws and more applications in the mainstream.

Energy Prices

Energy prices rose dramatically, especially in Europe. The Ukraine-Russia conflict and the political turmoil from it, especially in Europe contributed a lot.

Oligopolies

The trend towards oligopolies in tech is unbroken.

2024 Predictions

1. AI will accelerate hardware innovations. NVIDIA has hit incredible market valuations already. At the same time, Apple was able to increase its ARM performance even more. Combined with possible bottlenecks in NVIDIA chip supply, it is very likely that hardware manufacturers, such as AMD or ARM, come up with new products that could potentially dethrone NVIDIA. Google with its TPU chips could also come up with new "AI hardware".
2. Global tensions that are already immanent will become even more visible. The division of society will accelerate, especially in Europe. General conflicts around social media (fake news, ...), inflation, and upcoming elections (US) will sharpen while politicians struggle to balance foreign and home affairs.
3. AI will be applied in public administration. There will be an attempt to have sovereign tasks carried out by AI.
4. The Vision Pro will not reach mass adoption. As for now, the device is unhandy and expensive. It will probably strive in the tech bubble – and Apple will struggle with it. As a mass market company, Apple (at least since the renaming from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc.) will struggle to keep a niche product like the Vision Pro.
5. Governments worldwide will increase their efforts to monitor single financial transactions. At least one country will introduce a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

📸 Photo of the year

There's no photo of the year this time.

Of course, there is one but it is too personal to share in public. Anything short of that, i.e. the second-best photo of the year, just wouldn't feel right.

🌠 The Future

🤔 What Could Go Better

2024 will probably be the year of family, friends, and community for me.