The World According to Glissando

Tag: technology

  • Crap

    Crap. The internet is crap. Throughout history humankind has constantly made discoveries and advancements in virtually every area of endeavour in life, led by science and technology. There have been and are many remarkable men and women leading the charge. We owe a sincere thank you to all of these people. The majority of them, as chronicled in history, had a fairly altruistic character.

    There have always been many good people in the world, today included, but, there have always been a few too many not so good people. For some of the not so good people, their appetite to monetize and profit from anything and everything is all consuming. Nothing else matters, including other people.

    The internet. What a wondrous and amazing work of inventiveness. The goal was to improve communication between scientists and within the American military as I understand it. When it was first accessible to the general public, everyone utilized it because of its ability to connect people and share information quickly, even if they’re thousands of miles apart.  Enter the money people.

    As they quickly monetized the internet, it increasingly moved away from connecting people to a point now, where it is corrupt and poisoned beyond recognition. Where truth is whatever you want it to be and to hell with the consequences. It is perversely utilized to make money without conscious and without holding people accountable. Everything is “free”, where, in fact, nothing is free. The goal of social media is to addict you, and your kids, to using it and distract you from what is going on in the world around you. It’s all about power and money, and how to achieve these wanton desires in any way one can without morals, without scruples.

    This was not the intention of the creators of the internet. Their intent was much nobler, but, humanity being what it is and has been throughout history, has turned it into crap. A circus sideshow that unfortunately now dominates the world. For every person working right now on a new discovery, there are one hundred vultures eager to exploit the new discovery in any way they can for power and money; even if it creates addiction, corruption, hate, falsehoods and the list goes on and on. And AI? Yes, indeed, the internet is crap.  

  • Hostage

    We are being held hostage by the computer world. For example, I have used a certain brand of inkjet colour printer for many years now when I have a printer, but there has been a big change in using it. Now, the only way I can use the printer is by permanently connecting online with the manufacturer. It used to be that you would buy a printer and use it independently without constant need for the internet. Not so anymore. The only way I can activate and use my printer is via this continuous online connection.

    The problem is, virtually all computer equipment and apps now require internet connectivity in this manner. You are totally at the whims of the manufacturer or program owner. You may have purchased the item, but you don’t control it, and the company has reams of information about you which can be used in any manner they wish. It’s all buried in the legal jargon fine print.

    Personal freedom continues to be taken from people in the online world. You may think you have control, but you don’t, and the transgressions are constantly rising. Is the online world convenient…sure. That’s the whole idea. To get control of you, usually to make more money. But, the cost for this convenience is ever increasing personal invasiveness. We cannot use the computer independently anymore. We are being held hostage by the manufacturers and apps.   

  • FBBS

    Facebook. It was a wonderful new way to connect with friends: past, present and future. It was user friendly. You were allowed to “Friend” anyone you wanted to if the other party was agreeable. You received your friends’ posts as they happened in chronological order. Their posts were the primary focus. But, once they got enough people hooked, they changed it. Why? Avarice, of course.

    Today’s Facebook is very different. The priority is no longer connecting, and your friends’ posts, its’s whatever Facebook’s priority is. You can no longer easily “Friend” someone who is a new real life friend. Instead, you have to choose from the choices given to you by Facebook. Content? You can sometimes wait days to see a Friend’s post, if at all. Instead, you are inundated with ads, often by lousy companies; and Facebook chooses all types of posts from anyone they think you might be interested in. Why? The are trying to drive up advertiser dollars, not help you connect.

    Facebook was a great concept, but, like so many other things, it got corrupted by the desire to make more and more and more revenue. I have no problem with companies and people making money. It’s the avarice I have a problem with. For now, I am still on Facebook, but nowhere near as much. It’s because of all the friends I have made in the earlier days of Facebook. But, as I see less and less of their posts, eventually I will stop using the app. Friends were the reason I used Facebook in the first place. I certainly think I am not the only one who feels this way. Facebook…take note.  

  • AI2

    We all think it’s cute in the commercials where someone asks Siri, the Apple AI Assistant, a question and Siri answers. Isn’t that wonderful or cool, we think? Here’s something you may not realize though. Everything you ask Siri is recorded by Apple. It goes further. Sometimes you inadvertently and unknowingly activate Siri and everything you say is recorded by Apple. Apple will then disclose this information to marketers, advertisers and who knows who else. It is my understanding that Google Assist performs similar AI activities. Apple has just settled a class action lawsuit for $95 million over privacy issues involving Siri. In settling the claim, Apple was able to deny any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.    

    It used to be that the biggest privacy concerns were directed toward government. However, with the advent of AI, our privacy can now be tracked by a much larger potential pool of listeners. I’m not a conspiracy theorist; truth is what matters to me. What I am saying though is that this is what’s happening in our digital age with the advent of AI. I simply think people should be aware of this. You should also be aware that it is possible to disable these functions on your phone. As Don Henley sang: “This is the end of the innocence.”  

  • News

    Some people are saying to abandon the “Legacy Media,” which is the term used for the traditional news media. The supporters of this concept say Legacy Media is not truthful. They are biased and constantly lie. So, who is saying this? The answer: people who don’t like the truth or want to control what the truth is via social media platforms.

    Why are they saying this? Of course, money, power and control are some of their objectives. Remember, online truth is actually difficult to find. You have to be discerning and know your sources well enough to trust what they are reporting as news. And that’s the problem with rejecting the traditional news media.

    Look at it this way: if you eliminate traditional media, you have less sources of potential news, not more. Sure, if you want to put your faith exclusively in online platforms, that’s your right, but, eliminating traditional media gives you less options to discern the truth. You are actually losing an element of free speech and freedoms.

    Those who seek cultural control, control of the masses, money, or power are always empowered by restricting or controlling the sources of information, be it online, traditional or other media. These people want to control the news. However, unlimited, freely accessed news is imperative for your rights and freedoms, and for democracy. Think about any authoritarian country and they have one thing in common: they control all news media.

    So, I say, don’t abandon traditional media. It invites news media control. They are a source of information, which you may or may not like, but, they should have the right to present information the same as any online platform. When you eliminate a source of information, you are losing some of your rights.