Has AI already taken over?

It might be argued that the human race would never be foolish enough to hand over all the power to the machines. But we are suggesting neither that the human race would voluntarily turn power over to the machines nor that the machines would willfully seize power. What we do suggest “is that the human race might easily permit itself to drift into a position of such dependence on the machines that it would have no practical choice but to accept all of the machines’ decisions. As society and the problems that face it become more and more complex and machines become more and more intelligent, people will let machines make more of their decisions for them, simply because machine-made decisions will bring better results than man-made ones. Eventually a stage may be reached at which the decisions necessary to keep the system running will be so complex that human beings will be incapable of making them intelligently. At that stage the machines will be in effective control. People won’t be able to just turn the machines off, because they will be so dependent on them that turning them off would amount to suicide.” Ted Kaczynski (1995) quoted in The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence by Ray Kurzweil https://a.co/0bpkNFO

Are we humans the frog in the pot of water slowly being heated until we don’t realize we are boiling? Have we, as the Unabomber suggests in the quote above, turning our decision-making over to technology, and thus turning the control over lives to chips and software? Is it dependence, not force, that will give machines the upper hand in the human/technology relationship?

In some respects, I have personally turned decision-making over to my AI overlords:

1. I let GoogleMaps tell me where to go.
2. I let Amazon choose the products that I wish to purchase.
3. I let social media, to a large degree, determine what news I read. 

I get some pushback from some of my older clients for whom I drive when I use the online map that shows up on my car’s dashboard screen rather than taking their suggestions on how to get to the doctor appointment or hair salon. I explain to them that while GoogleMaps may not always recommend the shortest route, it will always choose the fastest route, knowing traffic jams, road construction, etc. I usually compromise by using the navigation system to get to the appointment and using my rider for recommendations on how to get back home.

As I read the news of politics and street violence and warfare and climate change, I wonder if AI making choices for the human race might be the more (ironically) humane thing to do. Sure seems like we people are messing things up.

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Given all the discussion about AI lately with ChatGPT available to the masses, I thought re-reading a little Ray Kurzweil might be enlightening. I’ve been a fan of his since the mid-1990s. (Yes, I read his work on stone tables in cuneiform.) Alternately too damn thick and technical and light and quite readable, Kurzweil does a better job of suggesting possibilities than predicting the future. (His 1999 predictions about 2019 are pretty off-base - no mention of the impact of social media.) But read him anyway.  

Treat your parents as you would like your children to treat you

Mom's high school graduation photo, 1950

Over the past two weekends, my sister, my brother, my sister-in-law, and I have been getting our mom and her cat  moved into an assisted-living apartment. Much to her dismay.

Mom is an independent soul who is not exactly a social butterfly. She’s lived in the same small house in the same small town in Iowa for the past thirty years, quite happily. But over the past couple years her “independent” living abilities have diminished.

A couple years ago, a minor auto accident made Mom’s vehicle undrivable and the policeman investigating took her license away. This led to a dependence on others, especially my brother, to transport her.  She became increasingly isolated. No church, no out-of-town visits, no grocery shopping. COVID, of course, exacerbated this.

Sadly. Mom’s cognitive abilities have been in significant decline as well. Her memory is very poor. She began leaving the door to her house open and “critters” had been getting in eating the cat food on the kitchen floor. She started to become lost on neighborhood walks. Her diet seemed to consist of peppermint candy and raisin bread, despite getting Meals on Wheels. A lifetime reader, she now spends her days doing Word Search puzzles. The house was not clean.

Mom’s move was made imperative by my brother’s plan to stay in his wife’s home in the Philippines over the winter. Having carried more than his share (along with his wife) of Mom’s care, he deserves the break from the winter weather.

 To be frank, Mom resisted the move, insisting that she could fend for herself and her neighbors could help her when needed, crying or losing her temper when the subject was raised. While she does indeed have generous neighbors, we felt neither they nor social service workers “looking in on her” were a good option. She said little (and only lost her temper twice), as we checked out the new apartment the weekend before last and moved her belongings in last weekend. 

The small apartment has a kitchenette with space for a fridge, microwave, and toaster plus a kitchen counter for dining. The living room has a large window through which she can view her bird feeders and on which the cat can sprawl. The bedroom is just large enough for a twin bed. The bathroom has a walk-in shower and room for the litter box. All meals are provided and she gets personal services as needed. I think I could live there. 

So she and her cat are now residents. So far she seems rather happy, but I am sure adjustment will take some time. We are hoping she will take advantage of the activities, group meals, and house-keeping the residence provides. That she makes friends. That the cat does not escape.

This has been difficult, I have to admit. Not just for Mom, but for my siblings and me as well. We were raised to “honor our parents” and Mom gave us little reason, as I remember, not to do so. Except fixing liver and onions. Making one’s parent sad, angry, and confused, even for their own safety, is depressing, to say the least.

My lesson from this has been to think hard about how I will react to my own children’s requests/demands that I change my living arrangements when my own faculties decline (even more than they already have).  They know my long-held hope is that I will be killed falling from a cliff when hiking (he died with his hiking boots on), but the odds of that may not be good. I simply hope I go to my great reward before slipping into total senility. And if not, that I am a reasonable person to the end.

Any reader suggestion on how to ease these sorts of transitions?

Moving day 

Google knows all, sees all

 In our latest update, Google Maps teams up with Google Calendar to make it even easier to get where you need to go. Starting today, Android users worldwide will start to see their Google Calendar events on Google Maps. So whether you're heading to a family dinner or getting subway directions to a birthday party, you can now quickly and easily access your events directly from the map. (September 30, 2016)

The entry in my GoogleCalendar simply read “6:30am Pick up Heidi”. Nothing in the location field, nothing in the description field. The calendar Heidi shares with me read “Leave for airport 6:30am”.

So I was a little surprised when I started the car and synced  AndroidAuto to find the first choice of location in GoogleMaps was Minneapolis-St Paul Airport. The second choice was the name of the park where I will be meeting a buddy for a hike later today. (My calendar did include this event with the location field filled in.)

I have another hike scheduled for tomorrow morning. I am guessing that park’s name and location will soon be a choice as well.

Now, only seven years after the announcement that Maps and Calendar will be synced (see above), did I realize just how much Google really does know about me. Duh.

I’ve realized for a long time that Amazon and Google and Facebook are experts at target marketing that is based on the searches I do and links I click. As I search for good travel packages for this winter, my Facebook feed is full of ads from travel companies - most I’ve never heard of. I do get a chuckle now and then when some algorithm had apparently had too much to drink and sends me links to feminine hygiene products or the like. Doesn’t happen often, but it makes me glad there are still human pilots in the cockpit of the jets in which I am a passenger.

I use GoogleMaps almost daily when I give my rides to people as a volunteer for a non-profit. Finding their homes, the location of medical clinics, and addresses of needed pharmacies is far easier watching the screen on my car’s dashboard detailing each turn.

I do have passengers (most older even than me!) who are skeptical about the use of GoogleMaps, sometimes insisting that I am taking the “wrong” route. I explain that while my “AI Overlord” does not always show the most direct route to a place, it always provides the fastest route. It knows things like road closures, construction zones, and traffic snarls that we humans alone are unlikely to predict.

For me, this is a pretty good example of the trade-off between privacy and efficiency. Yes, Google knows me and can target market me and can read my calendar to see where I am traveling. It is the world in which we live, making awareness of such dilemmas more important than ever.