Scientists and inventors have long attempted to make artificial intelligence a reality. Well, I think they have. The problem is, it's not technology that approximated human intelligence. It's the other way around. The human mind now works much like computers.
I think the use (or over-use) of computers have changed the way that I think. I'm not sure it's the same for other people, but I do know I have started to receive, process and retrieve information from my mind differently -- and not for the better. Here are just some of a few examples:
1) I almost always cannot construct a sentence in my head anymore without visualizing how it appears as "characters" in my head. I can almost count commas as I say words. There are also imaginary footnotes and hyperlinks whenever I utter a sentence. The problem with this is that I have transformed the way that I organize my thoughts in a way that is not linear, ideas built on top of the previous premise. The way I write, I type in sentences like a "stream of consciousness". But I commonly press the backspace key and re-type what I think are the correct words if I make any mistake. For instance, this is a sentence I inserted after I have just finished writing this paragraph. The problem with spending more time with the computer and less time actually thinking before typing is that I have become careless in the way that I communicate. I have developed a bad habit of saying words that I cannot take back anymore. Worse, there are missing ideas which I did not bother saying before I jumped to the next idea. Alas, I have moved farther from Aristotle's syllogism.
2) There's also a tendency to be aware of an existing idea or definition "somewhere in the internet", which I am compelled to "google", but cannot without a computer. So "whatchamacallit" moments are becoming more frequent. Or sometimes, there's a word which I do not bother trying to recall. I just get this strong urge to just type "shift + F7" so I could find the synonyms or antonyms. It's quite sad.
3) Then there's also trouble accepting that I cannot "control + x" my mistakes. The urge to do so is a recurring feeling that boggles me. I tend to imagine how certain acts could be corrected by just pressing "control + x" a certain number of times. Obviously, I can't do that in real life. I can neither "control + v" certain ideas, which i have to repeat several times.
4) The good part is, even if I have trouble communicating, I have become more systematic in my thoughts. I am now more inclined to think in terms of XY Charts and matrices, then "drilling down" the information for depth.
There are many other manifestations of how my mind has been brought down to the level of artificial intelligence. Given all these, I think the movie, Terminator, is not a far stretch. By the time scientists and inventors are able to fully develop artificial intelligence for computers, these computers will think like humans (used to), and we humans have demoted to just mere processors or data encoders. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Salma Angkaya
Entry #12
I think the use (or over-use) of computers have changed the way that I think. I'm not sure it's the same for other people, but I do know I have started to receive, process and retrieve information from my mind differently -- and not for the better. Here are just some of a few examples:
1) I almost always cannot construct a sentence in my head anymore without visualizing how it appears as "characters" in my head. I can almost count commas as I say words. There are also imaginary footnotes and hyperlinks whenever I utter a sentence. The problem with this is that I have transformed the way that I organize my thoughts in a way that is not linear, ideas built on top of the previous premise. The way I write, I type in sentences like a "stream of consciousness". But I commonly press the backspace key and re-type what I think are the correct words if I make any mistake. For instance, this is a sentence I inserted after I have just finished writing this paragraph. The problem with spending more time with the computer and less time actually thinking before typing is that I have become careless in the way that I communicate. I have developed a bad habit of saying words that I cannot take back anymore. Worse, there are missing ideas which I did not bother saying before I jumped to the next idea. Alas, I have moved farther from Aristotle's syllogism.
2) There's also a tendency to be aware of an existing idea or definition "somewhere in the internet", which I am compelled to "google", but cannot without a computer. So "whatchamacallit" moments are becoming more frequent. Or sometimes, there's a word which I do not bother trying to recall. I just get this strong urge to just type "shift + F7" so I could find the synonyms or antonyms. It's quite sad.
3) Then there's also trouble accepting that I cannot "control + x" my mistakes. The urge to do so is a recurring feeling that boggles me. I tend to imagine how certain acts could be corrected by just pressing "control + x" a certain number of times. Obviously, I can't do that in real life. I can neither "control + v" certain ideas, which i have to repeat several times.
4) The good part is, even if I have trouble communicating, I have become more systematic in my thoughts. I am now more inclined to think in terms of XY Charts and matrices, then "drilling down" the information for depth.
There are many other manifestations of how my mind has been brought down to the level of artificial intelligence. Given all these, I think the movie, Terminator, is not a far stretch. By the time scientists and inventors are able to fully develop artificial intelligence for computers, these computers will think like humans (used to), and we humans have demoted to just mere processors or data encoders. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Salma Angkaya
Entry #12
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