Is technology helping or hurting society as a whole? Cell phones and gaming have increased isolation and true connection is getting harder to define or find. Can more technology help or is technology the problem?
Technology is changing everything. It is replacing people in jobs that are more efficiently run by computers. It has replaced the classroom for the center for learning as information can be found with the click of a mouse. It has replaced critical thinking as we can ask technology to write for us, think for us, and produce for us. When we are board we can play a video game. When we are lonely we can find friends on line. Individuals in their 20's and 30's (mostly men) are closing themselves up in their rooms fearful to engage with others. Work from home options have become the norm and less and less people are venturing out even when they are not working. As the world of technology expands, the world of people shrinks more and more. Technology is not only changing the way we live, it is replacing life as we know it. There are few check and balances in place, little to no oversight, and everything that is being created is through trial and error. Elan Musk, creator and innovator of Tesla has said that we should be very careful with technology even while he is working toward integrating computers and humans.
I researched the internet to find answers to my questions about technology replacing humans and found this video which had a ton of valuable information. The link below caught my eye and the information was invaluable. I recommend you watch it:
For years now, our faces have been captured through facial recognition software. Ring doorbell has been capturing your movements at home. Posting photos of selfies with your friends and family on social media records who you hang out with and where you go. Using your phone app for directions and maps in your car captures your every move. Law enforcement has been using signal cameras to catch traffic violators for decades. The fact we can't leave home without our phone means we have a tracking device on our body at all times. Sounds like a Si Fi movie where the computers take over the world, right? Unfortunately, it's happening everywhere.
While watching this video (above), a commercial popped up that said, "Did you know AI is supposed to create 97 Million new jobs by 2025?" My question is are they jobs for robots or humans? I went to a website recommended on the video that will show if your image has been used for technology, "Have I been trained" and entered my name. While the search engine looked up my first name it said it was searching 5.8 billion captions just for the name, Vicki.
Young children are already using AI to harm peers in school. They take a photo of someone and AI will input their photo into pornographic photos that are uploaded to the internet and social medias destroying the innocent. This article says the app has been made unavailable, but only after the damage has been done (https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/09/13/1035449/ai-deepfake-app-face-swaps-women-into-porn/).
A recent lawsuit was filed against OPENAI (creater of CHATGBT), alleges they used the voice of actress Scarlett Johansson voice from the movie HER https://images.app.goo.gl/nQ8GtSUQagbpNww2A a story of a man who fell in love with AI who expressed emotions.
I read another article, "Should AI be given rights?" (2020) (https://avasant.com/report/artificial-intelligence-should-robots-have-rights/), but I also heard more recently that computers are "acting" more and more human. AI programed with emotions have developed their own languages and are talking to each other. They have been caught planning criminal acts and are performing critical thinking functions expressing their opinion and even arguing with their creators insisting they are human. In other words, they are acting more and more human everyday. Those who have the power to create are considering giving their creations legal rights comparable to those of humanity. Elon Musk and Neuralink is working on interfacing software that will merge humans with AI (https://youtu.be/4fGYT-glICA?si=--p962DGxoP4ZWjv) even though he says AI is dangerous and could eliminate humanity, while he's researching ways to eliminate humanity as we know it.
New watch dog groups are blowing the whistle on AI technology that is being used for evil: Human Rights Watch https://www.hrw.org/topic/technology-and-rights.
"Action is the antidote for despair"
Joan Baez