Forty years ago, the first portable phone was brought into existence. I remember that I was working for the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) and one of my bosses had one. It was roughly the size of a one litre milk carton, with an antenna sticking out of the top. It was the beginning of the end of society, for it was the doorway to cellphones and social media 15 years later. We did what we always do and jumped in both feet forward, without even trying to envision the ramifications years later.
Screen junkies were born, and iPads were used as tools to keep young children busy. They are sort of an electronic pacifier or babysitter while adults are busy doing adult things, and the young ones took to it like ducks to water.
At the present time, we are concentrating on the children and are being told to limit the screen time exposure to one hour a day for young people, totally ignoring the adults who face the same addiction. It doesn’t matter if it’s a cell phone, iPad, computer or television, they’re all equally hard to quit. They were all designed that way, and they are always being tweaked to become impossible to walk away from.
We are making the same mistakes with Artificial Intelligence, charging forward blindly as usual, not knowing if what we see and hear is real or just a recreation of reality.
We are underestimating A.I., the amount of energy it absorbs and the massive changes it will bring, both good and very, very bad.
Welcome to the electronic world.
Andy Perreault
