The Ladder of Technology (and the risk of falling)

"Writing will decrease memory. An abacus will make you lazy. Calculators will prevent you from doing math in your head. Rock 'n Roll is for hooligans. TV will make you stupid. Computers will leave people in obsolescence. Video games are for vagabonds. The Internet will kill the messenger jobs. SmartPhones will reduce your capacities. AI is here to destroy all human capacities. "

I see a pattern. Fortunately, I have lived several of those stages of cultural judgment. We can still think. Maybe better than before. However, it is not the case for everyone. The differentiators between technology and human improvement are personal abilities: agency, resilience, communication, adaptation, and learning. 

Those with knowledge and experience who are capable of repositioning themselves constantly are ahead of the game. If you lack that knowledge and experience, use the new tools (existing and future) to fill the gaps. Then, those whose interests are day-to-day living, daily surviving, reality will be harsh. 

After writing my comment, I found myself looking for my math books and coding a frontend interface, including an API to a MongoDB collection. When ethics, governance and accountability in AI become relevant,  I will be able to validate outcomes from a black-box process and still correct a non-hallucinating AI. 

#FrankBerrocal #LightHouseConsulting #AIBusinessConsulting