I don’t know about you; but there are a lot of important topics in today’s world about which I have little to no understanding. To wit: #1) Bitcoins. …No idea why they are not officially categorized as “The Madness of Crowds”. I’ve spoken to ‘Experts’ on the subject. They all Believe in them….but they can’t explain them to me. #2) AI. How is the world going to deal with all the unemployment coming from AI? How do we deal with the energy costs caused by AI? How are we going to know who did what and what is true or fake? Will there be regulations? #3) Quantum Computing. What is this? Is it important to my or man’s survival? What? #4) Chips. I don’t understand how chips can be so valuable that the biggest and highest valued companies in the world are in the chip business. I thought a chip was a little plastic thing about the size of a little toe’s toenail. How does any of this work?
Recently, I’ve had the awareness that I never understood how many of the important things of my life have worked and I got along just fine. For example, I have no idea how my refrigerator works. Why does it get cold inside?…and don’t tell me it’s because of electricity, because I do not know how electricity works – and don’t tell me it’s because of electrons, and protons and such because I know you don’t really know what those are either. And TV….how do those horrible episodic series travel from Netflix to my screen? And how does my money get sucked out of my account and into theirs?…I’m confused about Bitcoin? Quantum computing? and Chips? Whoah! Explain to me the phone. It tells me I use it 3 hours a day – and I don’t know how to use the half of it – and according to my readings, neither do you. We’re in this boat together. Unless you are twelve…but then you probably won’t be able to get a job because the robots will have them all. So you’re no better off for the knowledge. ——————————————————————————-
# “No fan, electric or otherwise, cools the air. In fact an electric fan increases the temperature of the air in a room…” p.74, Dictionary of Misinformation, Burnam. (…Well, duh. ) # “Technological progress is like an ax in the hands of a pathological criminal.” -Albert Einstein (Poisonous Quotes) # “Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.” -Mitchell Kapor, Founder of Lotus Software # “Technology is anything that wasn’t around when you were born.” -Alan Kay, Computer Scientist
That’s it for this week. …Gernot, Are You There?
