Thanks largely to the incursion of social media into our lives, we, and not just Americans but the world in general, have become a floating land of numbskulls in waiting. We watch, slack-jawed, as our children become less dependent on seeking out anything intellectual led by their smartphone toting parents who couldn't be bothered to even try and get their kid to do something as simple as read a book.
Heaven forbid! Though, to be fair, there are some people encouraging their kids to crack books, albeit ones that are chock full of nonsense, notions of "miracles", slams against basic human rights, and slanted views of what society was in the 19th Century and could be again, if they had their way.
Now comes what is, without question, another body blow to the simple search for intellectual curiosity, and we have Google to thank for it.
Not that it should surprise anyone.
As artificial intelligence sometimes assists, more often than not infests, our lives with it's ease of operation, Google has announced they will now infuse their own AI into the famous Google search engine. They ballyhoo the news as to how Gemini will make the search for knowledge so much simpler for everyone. Of course, anything that continues to feed the human search for new ways of turning into mental couch potatoes would seem to be just what we're looking for.
Where once you would enter words into the Google search engine and instantaneously be shown dozens, thousands, even millions of options for your search, what you will now receive, right at the top, is what Google believes will be everything you need to know without touching the space bar. Their AI will cease all this unnecessary and troubling "research", saving you time, making you better looking than you were a few seconds ago, and allowing you a roadmap to untold wealth and power.
OK, so maybe I exaggerated on the instant ability to be better looking. I mean, have you seen what's wandering around the various discount stores these days? Certainly, all those "other" results will still be there. They'll just be shoveled down the page in the flotsam and jetsam of what Google decides is secondary or unimportant. Nothing to see here, people. Move along.
That "top of the feed" information curated by Google's AI draws it's responses from material and information scooped from every other website and platform around the world. Gemini will be like every other aggregator who, in essence, steals from the intellectual property of others and passes it off as its own. It won't tell you where it got the information from, it won't always (if ever) send you to the original source, and it will be part of Google's continued marketing for their products and, in turn, your dollars.
This isn't about being a benefactor for humankind, people. This is about flat-out, no questions asked, down and dirty profit that will severely impact innumerable businesses and, at the core, those same news-gathering organizations that have been trying to keep up with technology.
While Google will convince a large part of the population this is exactly what they need, what they won't be telling you is how this will be yet another death knell for the legitimate news-gathering and information services. What remains of the newspaper and news industry on-line will now be shoveled down the line in those search results, and there will be no need for you to go anywhere but top of the Google charts for your information.
It will negatively impact advertising revenues, which will cause more news outlets to cut staff, put people out of work, and perhaps even go out of business. I mean, if you have the answer right there, why would you go looking for any other opinion? We haven't even touched on what will undoubtedly come from this and is already in the techno-pipeline. Newscasts, sportscasts, information feeds that come to you with an AI generated "person" and voice, providing cheap or no labor costs to certain industries, and putting another facet of the news industry out of work.
Therein is the intersection point of what is making America, and the world, a little dumber every single day. Where once there was a thirst for knowledge, differing opinions, other views of the world to ponder, there will now no longer be a need for the lazy amongst us to be concerned with such silliness.
And don't question for one instant how incredibly lazy we have become thanks to social media, AI, and anything else that will mean less time searching for truth and more time watching TikTok videos. Just pay attention to the growing number of people who are damn happy to tell you they get their news from Facebook, Instagram, Twitex, (yes, I just made that up), and every other social media platform thriving on rumor, lies, innuendo and cash-grabbing clicks.
Even on our college campuses, right down to the grade school level, these little urchins are having AI do their work for them in record numbers. Homework, research papers, thesis collections, book reports, you name it. In the end, a complete shutdown and stifling of the intellectual curiosity that once was a hallmark of being human, not just American.
A good number of you will reply that I'm just having a "knee jerk" reaction. AI will be the boon for all mankind, you may snap back. You'll be thrilled at no longer having to "waste time" doing research and looking at all those pesky "other" opinions and "questionable" facts. I mean, why would something as wonderful as "Google" lie to us? Are they not here for the good of mankind, truth, justice, pop tarts, cat videos and cooking lessons?
Perhaps. However, as one who has spent his entire adult life in the communication and news-gathering industry, I can only base this on what I have seen and where the trend is taking us. We can change it, but we have to be a lot more inquisitive, much more open to new ideas, much less tacked with having everything done for us, and more about using our heads for something other than earbud repositories. We have to care about uncovering the truth, the facts, the things that make us better informed and deliver a decent dose of common sense.
A simple tour around the various social media platforms would reveal that may already not be possible. But have no fear, there's always that ad telling us how to stop all body odor with baking soda, a half-can of Mountain Dew, and one can of pickled rutabagas.
Comments