Friction in Embracing Techonology
Image: Comany CuteCircuit‘s Hug Shirt
The revolution that is automation has been a goal in the history of humans since our very labour and work had ever begun.
‘Why reinvent the wheel?’ is the most popular phrase to an engineer when planning a project, referencing an ancestor’s invention whose creation was long before history books where capable of notating such events; books that were used so that we did not have to remember it.
Sewing machines integrated into the workplace in northern Europe caused friction and tension amongst workers and businesses alike. This friction is not unlike that which we are experiencing today, however unlike the sewing machine, this piece of technology is already in our hands and capable of not just changing our clothes, but our very thinking.
George Orwell was well informed enough to be a precursor the 21st century writing a quote such as “…if people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.”
So what does that mean for us now that the “other” is not a human, but a program?
For us commoners it means having access to knowledge and resources, however fake or real, at an instant. On the larger scale it could mean solving diseases, scientific advancements in all realms, complex system management such as governments and the economy all might have the potential to change.
For better, or for worse, but we will not know until we try embrace it. And we are inevitably, even with friction, trying.
Each paragraph I have written above have a deeper context on a greater history and knowledge that I could talk for hours about, thanks to other humans. I am sure an AI bot could write this up in an instant – but with access to what information and written by who, I am not entirely sure. The final message would even be entirely different according to whatever prompt I enter. The very state of knowledge and intelligence is now changing – and truth is at risk. But the question is, was it ever not?
It’s what we do with our truths that makes all the difference, and I am very keen to both observe and be a part of what may come of our future.