DATA  ≠ INFORMATION

INFORMATION  ≠  KNOWLEDGE

KNOWLEDGE  ≠  WISDOM

Technologists predict that Artificial Intelligence will one day control our lives, freeing us from the drudgery of labor.  IBM’s Watson, drones, robots and processors of all size are now ubiquitous in our transport, our purchase of goods and services and most assuredly in our entertainment and communication. According to the ‘super-intellects’ there is little that man can do that artificial intelligence could not do better and with greater efficiency – from sweeping our carpets to carpet-bombing our enemies from a base in the California desert.

Sounds good, right?

Well . . .  Not so fast.  What is the end game here?  Do we really want to lie idly about while machines manage our lives? There can be no satisfaction, nor fun, in that.

Technology’s advance began by gathering massive amounts of personal data, with or without our knowledge and frequently against our wishes; falsely promising that said data can be magically transformed into wisdom and personal fulfillment. For whom?, I ask.

Currently that data is being sold to advertisers who annoy us with febrile ads to buy their crap whether we need it or not; or it is sold to the Russians and Chinese who are determined to leak and/or manipulate it in a fashion to overtake our government, destroy our water supply, or disable our electrical grid… OMG!

Our economic well being, our happiness and satisfaction with life have not improved – in fact, the opposite is occurring. To all you little propeller-heads with pocket protectors, I say, ENOUGH ALREADY!

Your ‘advances’ have exceeded society’s ability to cope with the rate of change. Results have included chaotic wars and genocide in North Africa, Indonesia, and much of the Mideast. Governments are toppling at historic rates without regard to any orderly succession. Rioting and genocide are rampant.  Social media is changing the world – and not for the better. Laws, rules and common decency have yielded to mob protests and terrorist acts.

Thus far, the U.S. has been spared much of the anarchy but, even here, education has succumbed to entertainment, knowledge historically gained through analysis has been supplanted by 140-character rants. Violence on the part of aggrieved minorities, abetted by instant messaging, is on the rise.

Alas, we cannot un-blow technology’s horn: but I submit it is time to re- inject the human element between data, information, knowledge and wisdom. There is still time for rational human intellect and humanitarian effort to influence science. Are you there, Mr. Musk?

HAPPY NEW YEAR

You are welcome.

For more: http://www.jameshpyle.com