Made by a Human

Made by a Human: 

Version: 1.5 Date: October 8th, 2026

These are the things I do myself: 

  • I'm obsessed with nature sound recording. If I am lucky enough to do it every day until I die. That would be a great life. 
  • I go on recording expeditions to record the sounds of the natural world
  • I recorded all sounds sold on thomasrexbeverly.com. They are real sounds recorded in the natural world. 
  • All photos and video on thomasrexbeverly.com are real and were shot in the natural world. I shoot the footage myself, or I have a human assistant. 
  • I do all my own audio, photo, and video editing. You are paying for my taste, curation, mastering, and 10+ years of experience recording nature in the field. 
  • I do all the writing for my website, blog posts, and social media. I don’t generate writing or do editing with an LLM. 
  • I write the metadata for my sound libraries. 
  • I do not use AI tools to create voiceover that sounds like me. All dialogue recorded on my videos and podcasts is my voice.
  • If you email me, I respond. 

How I use AI: 

Here are a few examples of how I use AI: 

  • I often use AIs as a replacement for search.
  • I often use AIs to do deep research on topics. 
  • I often use AIs to find top human experts in a field I'm researching. Then I offer to pay the human experts to teach me for a lesson. 
  • If I have an AI teach me something, I tell it to be a Socratic tutor. Then it can teach you, without doing the thinking for you.
  • If I use an AI, I mostly use Claude, Gemini, GPT, or Grok. 
  • I customize the AI to refer to itself as "Computer" like in Star Trek. This helps me avoid anthropomorphizing the machine. 
  • I use Claude to proof my Soundminer sound library metadata. However, I don’t use the LLM to write the metadata. 
  • I use Claude to code custom tools for my website. 
  • I use LLMs for early rounds of legal contract drafting and proofing. Then I pay my lawyer for final reviews and edits. 
  • I use AI for technical support on all sorts of technology issues. This is very helpful to me as a solo entrepreneur. 
  • I use BirdNET from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for identification of birds in my drop-rig recordings. 
  • I use the Merlin Bird ID iPhone app to do live identification of birds in the field. 
  • I use the iNaturalist iPhone app to do live identification of plants in the field.

Reconnecting to the Natural World: 

I do these things to disconnect from technology:

  • I often leave my iPhone at home when I go outside.
  • I do not check email on my iPhone. 
  • I do not check social media on my iPhone.
  • If I think of something I want to learn more about, I write it in a paper notebook that I keep in my pocket at all times. Then I do the research on my laptop the next day. 
  • I love to disconnect from the digital world on recording expeditions. So I don't check social media or email while traveling. 
  • I do not like vertical, short-form video. It is junk food for the mind. I avoid it whenever possible.
  • I love reading paper books.
  • I love listening to 2+ hour long-form podcasts.
  • I love hiking and listening to audiobooks.