Re: Dimdows Decay Syndrome Continues

On 2/2/2025 7:50 PM, Java Jive wrote:

On 2025-02-02 21:26, chrisv wrote:

Paul wrote:

Similarly, the AI doing the Google searches, is doing
a shit job, and I'm now looking at a situation were
I don't get any help at all from the Internet any more.

AI is definitely a "mission accomplished" thing. It's
trashed the Internet. Good work.

It's not done until it's trashed human society.  Eventually we'll have
no reason to think, at all.

That's nonsense  ...  It's like saying that because we have calculators
we don't need to be able to do any mental arithmetic, but you always
need to be able to check that the result you get is reasonable to be
sure that you haven't miskeyed something while entering the calculation.
  Or it's like saying that because we have navigation apps no-one will
need to read maps or think about what the app is telling them to do.
Remember the German couple who drove off the end of a pier, and, IMS,
drowned, because their navigation app told them to?!  Or the Euro
continental lorry drivers who enter "Gibraltar" into their nav apps and
end up in a tiny English village that happens to have the same name?!
Didn't any penny drop when they had to take a Channel ferry?  Etc, etc.

As best I only see, a significant portion of the younger generations can
neither do simple arithmetic nor 1-step logical deductions (or the
informal equivalents or approximations). In other words, they cannot
verify or validate much of the information presented to them. I see, as
a result, such moves as not accepting cash at many stories.

I asked an owner of a fast food place why. The answer: The schools
didn't teach them arithmetic and I think they are too old to learn! I
also recall an experience a few years ago. I selected some supplies at a
store in Marina del Rey (part of greater LA) and approached the cash
register where a vacant looking 20 something young lady was the cashier.
She laboriously rings up the items and the total comes to $19.99. I take
out my wallet, hand her a $20 bill and apologize for not having anything
smaller. She says nothing, does not crack a smile, and remains frozen
until the register tells her to give me a penny back. Still no reaction.

So you really think we, collectively, will be able to profit from
information that allows us to double check our computers? These are the
same folks who are frightened by vaccines and community health. (I know
there is a small number of people who have predictable poor reactions,
but they're generally not the ones spouting conspiracy theories.)

The promise that connectivity (the internet) would improve society and
its human inhabitants has been shown false. Rather, it has led to
intellectually laziness and polarization. Non-vetted results are repeat
as gospel and we are all manipulated and exploited. The point is that
the vast majority of us are entrenched in this madness and our brain's
off switch has been thrown.

We do not regain rationality when presented with quality information
unless we agree with it before it is presented to us. When I say "we" I
included all of us who have spent our lives using our brain; we all seem
to have these blind spots where we would rather believe than think.
--
Jeff Barnett