The Sleeper

This thought will take many of you by surprise, but then again, maybe not.

Thought of the week: What’s your take on technology and the world of AI? 

 Anybody who knows me can say I have always been a bit on the techie side. Not extreme but I like to have modern toys and applications. Whether it’s audio or video, or computers, or even phones. I like to keep up. I started playing with computers in the early 1990’s, when IRC and MIRC were a thing.
It then evolved into an education and then on to a career. All the while watching the technology world advance massively. To remember Microsoft Windows 3.1 as I am working in Windows 11 is mind blowing. Many certifications and a couple of degrees later I have come to realize one thing about the technological world; it will never be good enough, strong enough, smart enough, or make those in charge, rich enough. We have gone from typing in commands for the computer to perform a task to telling either the phone or device what we want, questions to be answered, locations to be found, even pictures to be modified without using a mouse or pen pad. 

Much of what I just mentioned can be accomplished on the cell phone, the new "office". Passwords are no longer as necessary since you can use bio metrics to login to your device. MFA, multi factor authentication, is a major trend currently due to the increase in security risks with individual accounts.

Storage space is another complete advancement. Why continue to buy bigger hard drives when everything can be stored in the “Cloud”? My first real IT job started in 2001, and by 2006 I watched huge changes in technology. I remember talking to someone at the time and said, “you better be careful what you wish for in the computer world, it is already starting to advance and take over”. I was right, and now in 2024, 18 years later, what do we see? For example, I am writing this blog without any AI assistance, so if there are grammatical mistakes forgive me, I’m a human. I say that because there are so many programs, or applications, that will do the work for you. Write summaries, editorials, Meta descriptions, Titles, ideas, blogs, and so on. School kids both young and old can now have an app do their homework. A few tweaks here and there and there you go. Better grades, assignments in on time, and still time to go hangout with the cronies. But, are they learning anything? Quick thought – what ever happened to cursive? 

 The shame of this is not that technology hasn’t helped the world advance, it has made people lazy. Anyone can go on an AI app and do digital art. Just type in the description of what you want and let the computer go to work. Really cool pieces are generated. It’s true. You can do the same thing in music apps now. You don’t have to be able to play an instrument or sing, you type in what you want in detail, and boom, music 101. I have not tried these yet. Video is the same. If you want to generate a video ad for Instagram or Facebook, just type away. The app will do all the work. 

Cloud storage is another great idea for anyone who doesn’t want to deal with having their own storage locker for data. We used to buy external hard drives to backup files from the computer, or make things redundant, but now a user can rent space in large quantities and backup their files in a secure location, in the “Cloud”. But is it safer than having a personal NAS, or large external hard drives? If the networks go down, can you access your Cloud storage? No. If the host company has any disaster with damage, is your data safe? No. If the host gets hacked, which can happen, is your data safe? I just saw an ad for people using the cloud for their photo libraries, instead of keeping them on the phone or actually, a weird concept here, on a local external hard drive that is not connected to any network, and safe. And when the cloud has a storm, where do your treasures go? Its a gamble that I myself am not willing to take, as I have seen what can happen to renting a network service. 

AI, robots, drones, and the best one yet, self-driving cars, they have all been created to think for you, to make your life easier. Except we aren’t thinking enough anymore. We aren’t thinking of the ramifications of having this kind of advancement. Dangers and loss of control for ourselves. Technology is great until it can monitor, anticipate your next move, spam the crap out of you because you had your phone out when you were talking to someone. And, keep a log of conversations you had, “Hey Google”. It’s not only scary, for me anyway, it is downright intrusive. Look, if it has a chip in it to communicate, it can be hacked, and when I am driving around, I just assume that is not a good time for someone to hack into my smart-car. 

Rumor, but I have heard that the newest cars give police the ability to shut down your car if they are trying to stop you. Yes, I can understand if it is a high-speed chase or a wanted criminal, but you know, as well as I do it wouldn't stop there. I find as I get older, I go back in time further to get away from technology. 

I still like vinyl records; I prefer the way they sound over digital streaming. I still like trying to create in my wood shop without the laser printers, I like putting my phone down away from work, and looking at it only when I need to call someone. I do watch TV and enjoy the wide variety of network based programming instead of paying a large corporation an outrageous fee and being stuck in a 1–2 year contract, where they can raise the price even though the contract was locked down. You know for increase in taxes or FCC fees and so on. It’s all so sneaky, and they get away with it. 

Now this wasn’t a rant on big brother and how they have let technology fill their pockets and take simple living away from the normal every human, 

I was just “Thinking Out Loud”. 

 Any thoughts? Please share.