We seem to be committed to change. If it’s new, it’s good. If it’s electronic, it’s better. If it’s on an iPhone, that is better yet. I know that in clock time, an APP beats the old methods.
For me that old method started with a Big Chief tablet and went on to #3 Ticonderoga pencils, stick pen and bottle of ink, automatic pencil with extra leads, lined paper, tablets of lined paper, pen with a device to fill the ink bladder, pen with cartridges of ink, ballpoint pen, felt tipped pen, more #3 pencils, typewriters both manual and electric, reams of white paper, and now this 8×12 tablet on which I touch letters to make words.
It has been a journey long and sometimes arduous (stick pens were not designed for young hands no matter the Palmer method) toward literacy. That journey now drowns in something called AI, which for me, is a bridge too far.
Artificial Intelligence, AI. It is hard to ignore. If I want to know the population of Mongolia, I perform the art of googling and there is the population of Mongolia. I have not gone to the library, consulted any atlas, called any expert. I googled it and within seconds AI gave me the answer. Awesome. But that’s only a small part of the whole.
I find it too easy. How do I know the numbers are accurate? Who or what is google? Couldn’t wrong information be entered into AI? While the “I” part stands for intelligence, who double checks the accuracy? I know there’s much I do not know about algorithms and clouds and phones. And I never will.
But how can I accept APP reality only because it is new, fast, and electronic? However, it seems too much a Trumpian claim of stopping eight wars with no intention of accuracy. AI seems to me what my Norwegian ancestors called, “Making it up out of thin air.” Not acceptable.
Innovation is harder for the elderly to accept, no doubt. People once swore that the earth was flat and that a train travelling 30 miles an hour would cause miscarriages in women passengers. People knew this… until they didn’t.
A recent program on Reuters tells of the numbers of Generation Z who have turned away from their iPhones, who have Polaroid cameras, Walkman, landlines, library cards, and who are amazed and happy with the free time they’ve found. That information pleased me, maybe there is a circular reality.
I joined a gym, as movement is good at any age. Joining was different: they don’t accept cash but do accept phone money. I have a continual love-hate relationship with my phone but the person in charge did just that – took charge of my phone and made it happen. Then accompanied me to the entry to show me how to open the door. I tapped a couple taps, put the phone in my pocket, raised my right arm with hand cupped outward, covered the white button that turned green, and entered.
A smooth, working method. I immediately visualized Saturday afternoons at the Roxy Theater with Roy Roger or Gene Autrey or Hopalong Cassidy. There was always a scene where the white hats rode out to save someone or solve some problem. Along the way they would meet a group of Native Americans dressed in their finery and looking fierce: some few yards before clashing, both groups would pause, lift their right arms, hands cupped outward, and say, “How.” Each group would be satisfied and go on their way.
Did they have phones in their pockets to give them the green “Go”? Maybe there is a circular reality.