The Internet Has Transformed Our Lives
What if someone at your side offers you mind
boggling benefits?
At your request, you are given access to an unlimited amount of
information about almost anything. Your
companion enables you to chat instantly with friends anywhere in the world. Should you wish, the wireless wizard who likes
to live in your pocket will entertain you with games, give you the latest news
and your favorite music, act as your tutor, psychologist, doctor, list keeper,
or financial advisor.
For those of us who still remember the
Twilight Zone on television, the science fiction of 50 years ago has become a
marvelous reality.
We still have the habit of
attributing human traits to technology, but these days the companion with
amazing assets is really a network of digital networks not much older than we
are. We call
it the internet.
I
suggest that the “net” is like a wizard because its responses to our commands
seem almost magical. Yet how we make and
react to those commands is embedded in feelings, emotions, and views of the
world that belong uniquely to us. Our use of the internet reveals how
information and data can influence our personalities, emotions, and behaviors
for better or worse.
In his 1970 book “Future Shock”, Alvin
Toffler invented the term “information overload”. His futuristic warning was about the
“shattering stress and disorientation” that we induce by overwhelming the human
capacity to adapt.
Acceleration of knowledge was Toffler’s shock factor. To cope, he told us that we must learn to
deal with transience.
We must adapt and learn how to learn.
There is plenty of challenge in Toffler’s
warning because the growth in our usage of the internet has been phenomenal. Pew surveys
show that at least 95 percent of all U.S. adults are net users. Eighty
percent subscribe to high-speed internet at home. Cell phone ownership has accelerated to
97 percent among those under 50, a proportion just 35 percent in 2011. The rate of
internet use by those 65 and older impressively jumped from 14 percent in the
year 2000 to 88 percent today.
As a senior citizen, I embrace the internet
via a multitude of web sites that constantly provoke my curiosity or entertain
me. Gradually, I have recognized some nagging
liabilities from hours of screen time. Research confirms certain happenings.
These trends distress educators in particular. A chronic attempt to ban cell phones from
the classroom is just one result. Young people may be more vulnerable to
social abuses or virtual addictions than I am, but the personal impact for me
includes a shortened attention span, quick and faulty answers, loss of memory,
and even real-time social isolation.
I think of the internet as a universe of
information organized for access and utility on a grandiose scale. Meanwhile,
especially since the 1950s, its connections to something called artificial
intelligence (AI) have been maturing. Dependence on the internet is
fundamental, but instead of just providing data and options, AI builds on data
to make choices and decisions, to plan and set goals.
Alexa is my daily personification of AI. She is the virtual technology assistant for
Amazon and is capable of natural language processing for a growing variety of
informational chores.
Typically, she tells me about information she gleans instantly from
the internet. More generally, AI can perform complex tasks that historically
have called for human intelligence. Built upon machine learning, it creates
algorithms which are like electronic recipes that enable computers to create
patterns, relationships, and insights based on massive amounts of data derived
from human experience.
There are various levels of sophistication in
the expanding world of AI. Currently one of the highest is called
generative. As a photographer who has
come to rely on the processing miracles of Photoshop, I marvel at the latest
innovation of the Adobe company. I can
plug in my photo, and then expand its margins in any direction to produce an
entirely realistic and accurately rendered addition to the picture. Or for that matter, I can articulate in words
the addition or replacement I want in a photo, and then immediately see samples
of the result from which to choose.
Countless AI variations can make our
decisions and choices seem almost effortless. It is well to keep in mind,
however, that issues of data privacy and security are compelling. AI can be
used to invent visual renditions based on elaborate fiction. Whether using
the internet or applying AI to it, we can tap capabilities to create wondrous
conveniences and efficiencies. My
warning is that we must never fall back on allowing these digital miracles to
become an easy escape from thoughtful learning.
We must remain the arbiters of truth.
