Should you manage to get your hands wet, you can then attempt to dry them. This was once achieved via a cloth towel on a roller, or perhaps some paper towels, but now relies on a sensor-equipped device that takes the moisture from your hands and sprays it all over your clothes.
In the world of music, LPs were long ago replaced by CDs, which offered lower-quality sound. More recently, the CD has been replaced by Spotify, offering even lower-quality sound. Life gets worse β for both artist and listener β with each βinnovationβ.
No one requested the change. It was foisted on us. The reason: commercial gain.
The latest in this long line of triumphs is the rise of Artificial Intelligence. Suddenly a simple Google search is conducted by AI, whether you wanted it or not. Just a couple of months ago you could ask a question about, say, how they built the pyramids, then choose a source you trusted. Ah, the Smithsonian should be pretty good. Or, better still, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Now, AI supplies the first answer to your question, sometimes giving you a source, often not, and always with the disclaimer that βAI responses may include mistakesβ. The βinnovationβ separates the information from its source, robbing the reader of any ability to assess its likely accuracy. It also means people are less likely to visit the websites from which the information was gleaned, which, over time, robs these websites of the incentive to generate such information in the first place.
No one requested the change. It was foisted on us. The reason: commercial gain.
AI is also responsible for Microsoftβs most annoying innovation since its animated paperclip of the late 1990s. Just like Clippy, βCopilotβ now pops up unbidden, offering help completing the task at hand.
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Some people, I suppose, say βyesβ β actively participating in their own de-skilling. Most, I imagine, are like me: happy enough to write our own shopping list, love letter or essay. We sit there and get on with it, swatting Copilot away as if it were a particularly persistent mosquito.
Of course, some innovations sound terrific. You can now turn on and off your household lights using an app on your phone, meaning you no longer need an electrician to run wires through the wall cavity towards a switch screwed into the doorframe.
The same app can operate fans and heaters and can even open and shut curtains. It obviously saves a lot of time and effort β right up to the point the person with the app on their phone happens to be out for the night. Did no one think of that?
βThen again,β as the tech bros say, βthe technology is possible, so letβs force it on the world.β
So, welcome to the brave new world of gleaming high technology: sitting in the dark, waiting for your wet sheets to dry, while listening to some substandard sounds.
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