Data Driven Persona Development
Meet other local people interested in Data Driven Persona Development: share experiences, inspire and encourage each other! Join a Data Driven Persona Development group.
42
members
1
groups
Largest Data Driven Persona Development groups
Newest Data Driven Persona Development groups
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Check out data driven persona development events happening today here. These are in-person gatherings where you can meet fellow enthusiasts and participate in activities right now.
Discover all the data driven persona development events taking place this week here. Plan ahead and join exciting meetups throughout the week.
Absolutely! Find data driven persona development events near your location here. Connect with your local community and discover events within your area.
Data Driven Persona Development Events Today
Join in-person Data Driven Persona Development events happening right now
OWASP BE chapter meeting (02/06/2026, Leuven)
## **June 2nd, 2026 @KU Leuven (Heverlee)**
### **Location:**
**KU Leuven Dept. Computer Science**
Auditorium A.00.225
Celestijnenlaan 200A
3001 Heverlee
### **Agenda**
* 17:45 - 18:30 : Welcome (drinks + sandwiches)
* 18:30 - 18:40 : **OWASP update**
* 18:40 - 19:40 : **Secure Coding with AI: Building Safer Software with Claude Code and Codex** (by Jim Manico, Manicode Security)
* 19:40 - 19:50 : break
* 19:50 - 20:50 : **The Vulnpocalypse is hitting the physical realm: Reverse-engineering IoT devices with open source tooling and LLMs** (by Georges Bolssens, Toreon)
More info can be found on the Belgium OWASP chapter page at [https://owasp.org/www-chapter-belgium/#div-meetings](https://owasp.org/www-chapter-belgium/#div-meetings) .
Our chapter meetings are open for everyone, and attendance is free of charge. We ask you to register on Meetup in order to provide you with last-minute updates, if needed.
Conversation Exchange - All languages are welcome !
Would you like to improve your language skills and networking in a casual atmosphere? This event is for you! All languages welcome! Everyone is welcome!
The aim is to speak with native/fluent speakers of your target language(s). You'll be around all types of people throughout the whole event.
We will be in a private area. A great atmosphere is guaranteed!
You'll have to order a drink to attend the event 😀
Don't hesitate to contact us for any further information
Authentic relating and circling for beginners
Welcome!
Join these beginner sessions if you are searching for deep connection, and want to learn some basic techniques (from authentic relating and circling) that can support you. Activities may include meditations (to connect to yourself, your body and the other), structured dialogues (in pairs or small groups), exercises about sharing and owning your experience, and much more.
There are no prerequisites for these sessions. Just show up as you are.
Please add yourself to our whatsapp group to ask questions or to stay informed: https://chat.whatsapp.com/ClH8EhaItZPKU5cSkjkcC7
We look forward to meeting you!
Conversation Exchange - All languages are welcome
Would you like to improve your language skills and networking in a casual atmosphere? This event is for you! All languages welcome! Everyone is welcome!
The aim is to speak with native/fluent speakers of your target language(s). You'll be around all types of people throughout the whole event.
We will be in a private area. A great atmosphere is guaranteed!
You'll have to order a drink to attend the event 😀
Don't hesitate to contact us for any further information
Authentic presence
The practice of authentic presence is about freely expressing and revealing yourself while being with others. Through this practice, you learn to let go of habitual patterns and conditioned responses, allowing you to form deeper, more genuine connections rooted in who you truly are.
## About the event
Authentic presence is a path of radical honesty. It creates a safe and supportive environment where you can look at yourself with fresh eyes. At the same time it often is fun, enjoyable, beautiful, and meaningful.
Ultimately, this practice leads to a closer connection with yourself and more meaningful relationships with others.
Join these beginner sessions to learn basic techniques from authentic relating and circling. Activities include meditations, dialogues, and exercises on sharing and owning your experience. No prerequisites—just come as you are!
Contribution: €20
registration and more info: [click here](https://www.houseofthebeloved.eu/authentic-presence)
[Join our WhatsApp group to ask questions or stay updated](https://chat.whatsapp.com/I45llASEfCuE4L7WZ6ctOt)
We look forward to meeting you!
Let’s write in Café Merlo!
Let's meet to write!
Schedule :
18:30 - 18:45: Arrival & introduction tour. Share briefly with the group your project and the "goal of the day".
18:45 - 20:00 : Let's write!
20:00 : Closing tour. Did you achieve the "goal of the day" ?
See you soon !
Data Driven Persona Development Events This Week
Discover what is happening in the next few days
Developers in an AI world or AI in a developers world
**Welcome to the Sixth BDEN Meetup!**
AI is moving fast, and developers are right in the middle of it.
Some are already experimenting with AI-assisted coding, agents, MCP servers, and local models. Others are still trying to understand what all these new concepts really mean and where to start. This meetup is designed for both.
For our sixth Belgian Developer Experience Network meetup, we will focus on what AI means for developers today: how agentic systems are built, how they can be used safely, and what it takes to bring them closer to production in an enterprise context.
As always, expect more than slideware. We will have explanations, demos, real-world discussion, and enough space for questions and networking.
Mark your calendars for the 4th of June, because it is going to be an evening packed with practical insights into AI, agents, developer workflows, and production readiness.
**Location**
This meetup will take place as part of Red Hat Tech Day Belgium, hosted at The Montil in Affligem.
Red Hat Tech Day is a one-day conference for both technical and non-technical audiences. This year, for the first time, the event will also include a dedicated developer track, focused on the latest technologies and methodologies from the AI and software development communities.
You are also welcome to register for the full event here:
https://reg.experiences.redhat.com/flow/redhat/3977379/fieldeventsregapproveform/page/landingregistrationpage
**Schedule**
17:00 - 18:00
Doors open
18:00 - 18:15
Intro session
18:15 - 19:15
AI agents, skills, demos and sandboxing
19:15 - 19:30
Break
19:30 - 20:30
Panel discussion: putting agentic AI in production
20:30 - 22:00
Networking & food
**Sessions**
**Session 1: AI agents, skills, demos and sandboxing**
**Speaker:**
Burr Sutter, Director of Developer Experience at Red Hat
**Description:**
AI is no longer just about sending prompts to a chatbot. Developers are now exploring skills, agents, tools, MCP servers, and workflows where AI systems can take action instead of only generating text.
In this session, Burr Sutter will explain what skills and agents are, how they work, and why they matter for developers. Through demos, he will show how these concepts are implemented and defined within Red Hat, and how agentic systems can be sandboxed with technologies such as OpenClaw.
Whether you are new to AI or already experimenting with agents in your own workflow, this session will help you connect the concepts to practical developer use cases.
**Session 2: Panel discussion: putting agentic AI in production**
**Panel participants:**
Burr Sutter, Director of Developer Experience at Red Hat
Stephan Janssen, founder of Devoxx and organizer of Devoxx Belgium
One mystery guest, to be announced later this week
**Description:**
Building a demo with AI is one thing. Putting AI, and especially agentic AI, into production is something else.
After a short break, we will continue with a panel discussion on what it takes to use AI safely and effectively inside an organization. We will discuss how to get started, what developers should keep in mind, what organizations need to prepare for, and how to think about governance, security, reliability, and platform support.
The panel will bring together different perspectives from developer experience, AI-assisted software development, enterprise readiness, and the changing role of developers in the age of intelligent systems.
This panel is for developers who are curious about AI, developers already using AI tools, and teams wondering how to move from experimentation to real adoption.
**About Stephan Janssen**
Stephan Janssen is the founder of Devoxx and organizer of Devoxx Belgium. In recent years, his work has focused heavily on LLMs, AI-assisted software development, and Agentic Engineering.
He actively explores technologies such as local and cloud-based LLMs, multi-agent systems, MCP, RAG, Spec-Driven Development, and AI-powered developer workflows. Stephan is also the creator of DevoxxGenie, an open-source IntelliJ IDEA plugin that enables developers to interact with local and remote LLMs directly from their IDE.
Through talks, workshops, and R&D projects, he focuses on how AI agents are transforming software engineering and how developers are evolving from traditional coders into orchestrators of intelligent systems.
More info:
[https://stephanjanssen.be](https://stephanjanssen.be/)
**About Philippe Bogaerts**:
And our next panel speaker is Philippe Bogaerts.
Philippe is co-founder and organizer of BruCON, and an enthusiastic researcher and trainer in the world of building, securing, and hacking agentic systems.
He is also a wonderful public speaker. Philippe has already presented twice at BDEN, and every time he brings exactly the kind of energy we love: hands-on, practical, sharp, and anything but boring slideware.
It is a pleasure to see him explore, break, test, and hack in the agentic AI space. He is one of those speakers who keeps you interested from the first second to the last, because he does not just talk about the topic. He actually gets his hands dirty.
With Philippe joining Burr Sutter and Stephan Janssen, this panel is shaping up to be something special.
Really looking forward to this one.
**Additional note**
***This meetup includes food. Please keep your RSVP status up to date so we do not waste any food. In case you are no longer sure you can join in person, please update your RSVP accordingly.***
Deep Conversation - Question Chosen in Session
Welcome to our weekly event in the upstairs room of The Sister Café, rue Chair et Pain 3, one block from the Grand Place. Please get there early enough to order your drink at the bar first. Thank you!
After introductions we will collect questions from the group participants, choose one by voting then discuss it for an hour. Then most of us stay for drinks and bizarre conversations.
Past questions have been wide and not confined to academic philosophy:
What is a genuine friend?
Is social media turning us into emotional zombies?
Do we lose some of the experience of things by defining them?
Are we driven by sex?
Is loneliness a personal failure?
Is morality relative?
**Crucially, be kind and respectful and generous** in your disagreements; remember how much you personally enjoy someone else proving you wrong before celebrating your cutting counterexamples.
OpenTelemetry Meetup @ Collibra
Join our next meetup at Collibra on June 4th! We will have 3 talks about OpenTelemetry and will share some food and drinks while networking
**Location:** Collibra, Rue Picard 11, 1000 Bruxelles
**Agenda:**
17:45 : Doors open
18:00 - 18:30 : Drinks and pizza
18:30 - 19:10 : Talk #1 OpenTelemery on Kubernetes with EDOT: Getting started and what's ahead
19:10 - 19:50 : Talk #2 Taming Tenancy, Cost and Architecture at Collibra Through OpenTelemetry and Our Telemetry Backbone
19:50 - 20.30 : Talk #3 Closing the Observability Gap: OpenTelemetry Meets Elastic at Telenet
20:30 : Wrap up
**Talks:**
**#1 OpenTelemery on Kubernetes with EDOT: Getting started and what's ahead**
**OpenTelemetry has become the default way to instrument applications and infrastructure, and Kubernetes is one of the places where it makes most sense to use it.**
This talk is a tour of OpenTelemetry on Kubernetes, focusing on the Elastic Distribution of OpenTelemetry (EDOT). We will explore the OTel basics (general architecture, signals) and the recommended way to deploy OTel on Kubernetes using the OpenTelemetry Operator. A live demo with an Elastic backend will showcase the correlation of metrics and logs, demonstrating how everything ties in together.
Finally, it will cover the current community effort to stabilize Kubernetes observability, including the promotion of Kubernetes attributes to release candidate status and the latest updates to the semantic conventions for Kubernetes metrics.
This session is useful for beginners trying to get into OTel, and for those running OTel in their Kubernetes cluster and trying to get some insights on what is to come.
*Speaker: João Marques Correia, Software Engineer at Elastic*
**#2 Taming Tenancy, Cost and Architecture at Collibra Through OpenTelemetry and Our Telemetry Backbone**
Operating a SaaS platform presents the same observability problems as any other enterprise, but due to the scale and tenancy, we introduce a huge multiplier on the observability signals, having an effect on cost and effectiveness.
This session dives into the techniques Collibra used to tame these problems and how to maintain clarity when infrastructure spans virtual machines, modern Kubernetes clusters, and a complex mix of single- and multi-tenant architectures. Without the right context, telemetry data becomes a noisy, indistinguishable flood.
We will dive into the architectural decision to leverage the C4 system model, ensuring every piece of telemetry carries the vital context of what it belongs to and where it sits in the hierarchy. Enabling us to gain insights into both signal attribution and allowing virtual chargebacks. The presentation details the implementation of a pipeline using custom-built OpenTelemetry collectors designed to handle the data and enrich it before sending it to the appropriate backends.
This session will give you practical insights on the challenges SaaS platforms have, but the techniques that are used to tame them can be applied everywhere.
*Speaker: Alex Van Boxel, Principal System Architect at Collibra*
**#3 Closing the Observability Gap: OpenTelemetry Meets Elastic at Telenet**
Modern systems generate more telemetry than ever, but without consistency, that data quickly becomes noise. At Telenet, we turned to OpenTelemetry to standardise how we collect and enrich observability data across our bare-metal Kubernetes clusters.
This talk dives into how we integrate OpenTelemetry into our engineering workflows and couple it with Elastic for storage, analysis, and visualisation. We’ll walk through our architecture, instrumentation strategies, and how we ensure high-quality telemetry that engineers trust. Along the way, we’ll highlight real use cases, from debugging production incidents to improving service performance, and discuss what worked, what didn’t, and what we’d do differently today.
If you're an Elastic user looking to adopt or scale OpenTelemetry, this session will help you bridge the gap between theory and practice.
*Speaker: Reidar Veroft, Container Platform Engineer at Telenetgroup*
**Bios**
**Alex Van Boxel** is a Principal System Architect at **Collibra**. With an engineering background in Research and Development at Alcatel-Lucent, Progress Software, and Veepee he loves to focus on the fundamental building blocks of the software industry. That means reading, understanding, and contributing to specifications, as well as contributing to the Open Source projects that run through our infrastructure. He is code-owner of two components of the OpenTelemetry collector.
**João Marques Correia** is a Software Engineer at **Elastic**. Having recently joined Elastic, he has been focusing on OpenTelemetry, with a bigger effort being put into Kubernetes metrics stabilization. Before joining Elastic, he worked as a Software Engineer at Cisco on a Data Center network controller. He is drawn to distributed systems, and in particular how to observe them and keep them working reliably.
**Reidar Veroft** is a DevOps Engineer at **Telenet**, where he builds observable, reliable systems that power critical infrastructure across Belgium. From the 5G core to our voice core, he focuses on making sure the systems behind Telenetgroup are not only running, but fully understood through high-quality telemetry.
**Thanks to Collibra for hosting this meetup!**
Brussels Singles Relational Lab — Facilitated Connection Experience
# Tired of dating apps or surface-level social events?
This is different.
Relational Labs is a guided connection experience for singles who want more honest, playful, emotionally intelligent interaction — without performance, pressure, or endless small talk.
This is not speed dating.
Not networking.
Not “pitch yourself to strangers.”
It’s a facilitated relational container rooted in psychology, emotional intelligence, attachment work, social dynamics, nervous system awareness, and real-world human connection — made practical enough that you can actually live it instead of reading another 50 books about it.
## What happens
• A 2-hour guided online relational experience
• Real-time connection exercises designed to create authentic interaction
• A format that adapts in real time to whoever is present
• Optional participant-led in-person continuation afterward
• WhatsApp connection thread after the session
## This may be for you if:
• You’re tired of shallow or repetitive social spaces
• You want deeper connection without forced intimacy
• You enjoy personal growth, psychology, communication, or relational work
• You’re open to meeting people in a more intentional way
## Important
This experience runs with whoever is present and takes its own shape each time.
Sometimes expansive.
Sometimes intimate.
Both are the real thing.
Booking happens through our website.
👉 Reserve your spot:
[https://consciousconnectionsclub.com/join](https://consciousconnectionsclub.com/join)
Optional in-person continuation: same day or within 48 hours depending on the city
Most people come alone.
People often leave surprised by how quickly strangers can feel human, warm, honest, and real.
Sometimes awkwardness turns into ease.
Sometimes curiosity turns into chemistry.
Sometimes people simply remember what it feels like to actually connect again.
Meditative Silent Walk
Join Us for a Meditative Forest Walk
We warmly invite you to a silent, meditative walk through the forest, where we will move together in stillness for about one hour. This gentle practice helps you reconnect with nature, slow down the mind, and notice the subtle details—both around you and within you. By walking silently, we create space for calm, clarity, and unexpected insights.
Details:
Date & Time: Saturday 6 June
Meeting Point: Herrmann Debroux Metro (exit straight ahead after leaving the platform)
Start Time: We begin walking at 16:10 sharp, so please arrive on time if you plan to join.
Practical Note:
Please wear weather-proof walking shoes, as the forest paths can get a bit muddy when rainy.
After the walk, you are warmly welcome to join for a drink at Rouge Cloître. It’s a cosy, creative space to end the evening together if you feel like staying on.
If you're in the mood for a quiet inward journey, we would be delighted to walk with you this Friday.
For any questions or to let me know you’re coming, feel free to contact me at 0474 60 83 70.
Looking forward to sharing this peaceful moment with you.
Data Driven Persona Development Events Near You
Connect with your local Data Driven Persona Development community
Data & Analytics Wednesday - Finding Product Insights
**The Behavior Gap: Where Products Win or Lose**
Teams today have more data than ever, and yet many still struggle to understand why customers adopt, engage with, or abandon their products. Teams sprint, ship faster, and chase more signals… all while metrics stall and confidence drops. The missing piece isn’t more data. It’s often the behavioral insight between the metrics, explaining why the numbers move in the first place. Dashboards can tell you what customers did, but understanding why they did it (and how to influence what they do next) requires a deeper blend of insights. This session is about closing that gap.
Drawing from real-world experience designing and scaling products as [ZoCo Design](https://zocodesign.com/)’s CEO, [Lacey](https://www.linkedin.com/in/laceypicazo/) will share how to cut through the noise and identify the insights that actually change behavior—moving people, and moving metrics. You’ll learn:
* Why understanding customer behavior is a quant and qual challenge
* How to spot the signals that actually predict behavior change
* Where AI accelerates insight, and where it creates distraction
* How to get meaningfully closer to customers, without adding more tools
This talk reframes how to evaluate performance and identify what levers actually improve it, helping your team to make smarter bets with greater confidence. Every meaningful outcome is driven by behavior change. And when you know how to design for behavior, you stop guessing, and start building things that work.
**About Our Speaker**
[Lacey Picazo](https://www.linkedin.com/in/laceypicazo/) is the Founder and CEO of ZoCo, a healthcare product studio that turns complex, high-stakes ideas into products that drive real-world adoption. She partners with healthcare organizations to uncover critical care delivery insights, focus product strategy through behavior design, and build solutions that patients and providers actually use.
Thanks to our 2026 sponsors:
[Clarivoy](https://www.clarivoy.com), [What Box Consulting Group](https://www.whatboxconsultinggroup.com), [Conductrics](https://www.conductrics.com), and [Piwik PRO](https://piwik.pro)
More info at [cbusdaw.com](https://cbusdaw.com)
SQL Server 2025: The Developer’s Revolution
The June Ohio North Database Training user group meeting will be held on **June 2nd, 2026 at 5:00PM**. This will be a **HYBRID** event and we will be joined online by **Sam Nasr.**
You're welcome to come meet in-person at our meeting location, the offices of Improving at
**[6000 Freedom Square Dr,](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Improving/@41.4004167,-81.6614462,17z/data=!3m2!4b1!5s0x8830e5b8255c5919:0xd8297060eb68fe04!4m6!3m5!1s0x8830dc7a0fe35dc9:0xbfc4710ecadfc5c!8m2!3d41.4004127!4d-81.6588713!16s%2Fg%2F1hm3hkqp3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQzMC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D)**
**[Unit 110,](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Improving/@41.4004167,-81.6614462,17z/data=!3m2!4b1!5s0x8830e5b8255c5919:0xd8297060eb68fe04!4m6!3m5!1s0x8830dc7a0fe35dc9:0xbfc4710ecadfc5c!8m2!3d41.4004127!4d-81.6588713!16s%2Fg%2F1hm3hkqp3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQzMC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D)**
**[Independence, OH 44131](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Improving/@41.4004167,-81.6614462,17z/data=!3m2!4b1!5s0x8830e5b8255c5919:0xd8297060eb68fe04!4m6!3m5!1s0x8830dc7a0fe35dc9:0xbfc4710ecadfc5c!8m2!3d41.4004127!4d-81.6588713!16s%2Fg%2F1hm3hkqp3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQzMC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D)**
[Teams Link ](https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/215625630917731?p=vxNb3zudhNj0S6Cg0v)if anyone needs it after RSVP-ing for in person.
If you would like to subscribe to our email list outside of Meetup, we have changed platforms recently and you will need to register [here in Kit ](https://ohio-north-data-training.kit.com/b8f036f615)instead to receive emails.
Agenda:
**5:00 PM EST**: Online and in-person meeting begins with a social hour. This is an unstructured hour where you can join us to catch up and meet other group members before the session starts. There will be food brought in for in-person attendees.
**6:00 PM EST**: Elections, announcements, followed by our feature presentation. See below for presentation details.
**7:30 PM EST**: Optionally after the main presentations, the in-person crowd may go out for snacks and drinks at a local establishment.
We hope to see you there!
Session Abstract
### SQL Server 2025: The Developer’s Revolution
Explore SQL Server 2025’s new dev features -JSON type, Regular Expressions, and Change Event Streaming for real-time pipelines. See how REST API and Data API Builder turn your data into secure, high-performance APIs. Packed with demos, this session is perfect for developers, DBAs, and architects
\*Please note, that we will be using Microsoft Teams for the online portion of this meeting. You may want to join a few minutes early to ensure you do not have any issues. If you are attending in person, there are large TVs at the office, and you do not need to bring a laptop or use Teams.
Stop Guessing: A Product Person's Guide to AI Adoption
## 🤝 Host Information
A co-hosted event by ProductTank Columbus & Women in Product Columbus
💡 About the Workshop
AI adoption is stalling across organizations — not because of a lack of motivation or tools, but because it's fundamentally a behavior design challenge.
This hands-on workshop applies proven Behavior Design models and methods to help you move from a vague organizational wish to boost AI adoption to 3-5 concrete, testable interventions you can act on starting tomorrow.
Whether you're a product manager, on a product team, or just someone trying to get AI to actually stick at work, you'll leave with a clear picture of what's worth focusing on, what to ignore, and how to drive real, sustained adoption — no guesswork required.
🛠️ What to Bring
Laptop: Fully charged and ready to go.
AI Assistant: Have your favorite AI assistant pulled up. (Dom will be using Claude, but feel free to use whichever assistant you prefer!)
🍕 Logistics & Perks
Food & Drink: Pizza and drinks provided!
Parking: Plenty of free spaces available on-site.
###
Level One Tuesdays (Bachata & Salsa Dance Lessons)
Click Here For More Videos:
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/17bwkttXhV/
***********************************
Salsamante Dance Academy will be at Swerve Every Tuesday Night to share the Rhythm & Energy of Bachata & Salsa.
These are Beginner Level lessons to get you comfortable and understand the two dances. Spread the Good News to all.
Swerve Dance & Fitness Complex
640 Lakeview Plaza Blvd A, Worthington, OH 43085
Bachata 7pm-8pm
Salsa 8pm-9pm
$15 - One Lesson
$20 - Both Lessons
Psychic Development Series II - Pueo Group
Private Group. Closed to the Public
Knowing ourselves and understanding our abilities is the first step toward wielding our gifts with control and accuracy.
In subsequent classes we will verify and hone our talents with activities and discussion. These are hands-on workshops and participation is expected.
The goal of our series will be to develop expertise in areas of particular interest such as mediumship, channeling, divination, healing and, etc.. Our ultimate directions will be determined by class members as we evolve.
I look forward to sharing and discovering with you. - Cynthia
QA or The Highway 2026
QA or the Highway is a one-day, affordable, regional, professional conference featuring real-world experience and thought leadership in the QA and testing industry.
This is a ticketed event please register here:
https://www.qaorthehwy.com/
Featured Keynote Speakers:
**Matthew-Hope Eland** **(Wizard at Leading EDJE)** \- An AI Specialist and Wizard at Leading EDJE who is known to teach software engineering\, AI\, and data science concepts in the most ridiculous ways possible\. Matt has used machine learning to settle debates over whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie\, reinforcement learning to drive the behavior of digital squirrels\, data analytics to suggest improvements to his favorite TV show\, and AI agents to play board games and create an AI agent with the personality of a dog\. Matt is the author of "Data Science in \.NET with Polyglot Notebooks" and "Refactoring with C\#" as well as several LinkedIn Learning courses\. Matt helps organize the Central Ohio \.NET Developer Group\, runs several blogs and a YouTube channel\, has a Master’s of Science in Data Analytics\, and is a current Microsoft MVP in AI and \.NET\.
**Tatyana Arbouzova** **(CEO at Innovate QA)** \- Tatyana Arbouzova is an engineering and business leader with a strong background in Quality Engineering across multiple industries\, including Big Tech\, Healthcare\, and Entertainment\. She has held leadership roles at world\-class companies such as Microsoft\, VMware\, Disney\, and The Pokémon Company International\, where she focused on building quality\-driven cultures and scaling teams to deliver high\-impact products\. With decades of experience\, Tatyana has helped organizations transform their quality practices so teams can deliver software efficiently\, confidently\, and with measurable business outcomes\. Today\, Tatyana advises software companies on adopting AI to optimize quality practices and improve how software is delivered at scale\. She is also a passionate community builder and the founder of Innovate QA\, a thriving Seattle\-based community and conference for quality professionals\.
Drunken Philosophy: Are you really who you think you are? What is the "self"?
I have been studying the question of "self" online with Prof. Ellie Anderson and so I thought a prompt on the "self" might be interesting. Full confession: I had Claude create this prompt and I like it, so here goes:
Imagine a thought experiment that merges two classic puzzles:
> You undergo a procedure, performed neuron by neuron, in which every biological component of your brain is replaced with a functionally identical synthetic substitute. At each step, your behavior, memories, and personality remain unchanged. When the last neuron is swapped, is the consciousness experiencing the world still you? And — more pressingly — was there ever a continuous "you" to begin with?
### Questions to Wrestle With
* If consciousness is purely physical, does the *gradual* nature of the replacement matter, or is it equivalent to being destroyed and rebuilt?
* Could there be a "self" without continuity of experience — even moment to moment, while you sleep?
On a more practical level, consider the simpler case first: **hemispherectomy** patients — people who have had an entire cerebral hemisphere surgically removed — often retain a strong sense of personal identity and continuity. This suggests "you" are not rigidly tied to specific physical material. But does that vindicate the synthetic neuron case, or merely show that identity is more *flexible* than we thought — not that it can survive *complete* substrate replacement?
I used Claude so I could get this out today and let everyone have some time to consider it. Hope to see you at the Oracle. Sorry about the location change two weeks ago. That's what I get for trusting local weather predictions!





















