Lockdown Day 44

With so much time on our hands it is predictable that we would spend a lot of it online. Although in the spirit of the self-discipline of Lockdown Day 11, I try to limit it, especially on the social networks which tend to just be echo chambers from a Narcissus to an Echo. 

There is talk of creating an app for our cell phones for virus contact tracking and limited freedom of movement for those in vulnerable categories. In the recent past the surveillance state has insidiously crept into our lives. CCTV is ubiquitous. This is another level of control purportedly for the common good. Big Brother has a nefarious history going back over 70 years before the putative reality TV show.

We use the social networks to stay connected to friends, family, and possibly news, although that is a matter for debate based on confirmation bias. This is where A. I. comes into play. With our hearts and minds. 

An algorithm analyzing previous searches or ‘likes’  feeds us similar information we’d like to have or need. This applies to communication and predictive text editing. 

My news feed supposedly shows me things I might like to know based on my google searches. I use ad blockers so it doesn’t have the opportunities it once had to feed me advertising based on a random word in an email, which was way too creepy anyway. 

In my news feed it now comes up as ‘sponsored’ or ‘suggested for you’.  So I get posts captioned: this wild pony is so patient while someone sets him free, or various others about horses mired in mud, caught in fences, baby animals abandoned by their mothers being raised by humans, etc. I have never in my life searched anything like this. Or there are the ones captioned “we could sit and listen to “hair education” all day. Hair education? Really? The best are make-up tutorials performed by already attractive 18 somethings applying extremely elaborate layers of stage make-up for everyday wear and ending up looking literally plastified. Imagine having to remove that or what the pillow case, or whatever, would look like if one doesn’t, before going to bed.  These networks know exactly how old I am, it’s not like I’m hiding it on a Tinder profile. 

My most common searches are in the dictionary category: odium, laconic, Fauci, which means jaws in Italian, let that sink in; seraglio, the area where the sultans’ wives live, harem or, in italian spelled serraglio, it means enclosure for ferocious or exotic animals, get the picture? Otherwise, I look up literary references, or similar information. 

The predictive text on my phone is helpful, except when it’s not. You would think that it might predict the most common usages or expressions as you’re typing, it doesn’t, to my endless annoyance. 

What good is it?

Why are these things connected? Why are such random posts coming up in my news feed? Why isn’t predictive text very good? Because A.I. isn’t. 

Which brings us back to the recent calls for interconnectivity for the common good in the time of the coronavirus and beyond. What could go wrong? A lot.