So hello, it’s been a while, I’m sorry. I have been busy flying and working and writing – Anyhow – I thought for this Tuesday I would talk about the news of a computer programme that will make gamers obsolete, yep you heard me right, a programme has be designed to play games, learn and adapt and become better at said games, at the moment it is just old games like pong and the like but it is incredible. Reports have shown that the programme is 20% better at the games it plays than a human player can do but what is astonishing is that the programme is ten times better than humans with other games like minesweeper and the like. Ten times better than us! I would watch out kids they’ll be coming for your call of duty Xbox and ten times fast then you now. That’s a death knell right there, saying all of this, if you read any other of my tech Tuesdays I definitely come across as not a fan of a lot of technology, and with this I am cautious but it is significant, self aware devices/ computers, what would that mean for us? We are already well down the VR rabbit hole with aware devices doing our shopping, cooking, driving, are we descending into an age where everything is automated, where the human being is monitored and plugged in so just existing? I don’t know, it possible. On the other hand, developing tech does bring with it hope, for example what about those who have a medical problem that affect mental abilities? This new tech, although in its’ infancy, could be used to help fuse a devices cognitive ability with a sentient mind. We already have devices used in the back of ambulances that can act on their own to maintain a patient on the way to hospital. The possibilities are endless and the fact that you take out the risk of human error is what appears attractive, just think about accident rates going down due to driverless cars!
My issue are not with machines rising against us, my issue is what kind of life we would live – as it is fairly boring now – we live in countries that are hugely regulated meaning we can’t do what we want most of the time, add in to that the small pleasure of driving being taken away and what is the point? But it seems that is the way it’s going with the world being to dangerous for any of us to do anything, so we must have machines to do it for us and we live out our excitement and enjoyment through virtual reality? I do feel that is a way the world is going in the next few hundred years. For some reason governments all over the world are obsessed with safety to the ninth degree so we can’t be a bit stupid anymore and find things out for ourselves? Where will it end? I watched a Ross Kemp episode on the biker is a fine example of what I am talking about, a country bent on breaking down groups, putting people in to isolation so as to maintain the norms. Devices and virtual reality and the like would just help that along, you don’t have to be a genius to see what the internet, social media and gaming had done to some children and adults. I would go as far as to say that we can now, more than ever, be easily led and easily manipulated – as laws and the like restrict us further and further until we do truly live in a virtual world – not experiencing things for ourselves and understanding the consequences.
You may wonder why someone such as me, being fairly young, is so anti tech – it is because so much of it is intrusive and destructive. I see how people are being brought up on it and it’s making them lazier and lazier and it is contributing to people more and more socially isolated, in real term. But I do like using tech. I love cars, helicopter, motor bikes and I love gaming and a lot of tech is useful, like being able to flick things from your phone to your TV. It is good but I also believe that there are darker connotations to everything. That my ten pennies worth for this week. I hope you enjoyed reading my ramblings and it gave you food for thought. I hope you have a good week. As it is Book Week, do pick up The Horse Lord on Amazon, if you haven’t already read it and add to my numbers. Thanks and Bye.