Conversations on a Dog Walk

Kat had just met up with Ian as they did their daily walk with their dogs along the green space through the hydro corridor.

Kat greeted him, “Good morning. What a beautiful day. I was just thinking...."

" Always dangerous" quipped Ian.

"We are living in Dickens tale of two cities, 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.' Here we are living in a potentially marvellous time of humanity, that has been built by standing on the shoulders of giants. I used to think the goal was to help raise humanity, yet it seems self-centered elitist leaders, blinded by their insatiable need to accumulate wealth and  power, likely to make up for their personal inadequacies, treat the masses as their disposable slaves.”

“ Well, I can see that today’s walk is going to require resolving some frustration.” Ian chuckled.

Ian and Kat had been friends for ages. There was an implicit understanding that there is little that each individual can do alone, but many who discuss the current wave of thought and establish normal in the skewed curve, can lead to change.

Kat continued, “I just don’t understand how people  ignore what is right in front of our eyes. Can you hear that hum of the current going through the wires? It  generates an electric field that can light fluorescent bulbs.”

In his best Obi wan Kenobi voice Ian said, " Feel the force.”

Kat chuckled. “We sense the wires generating electricity yet ignore the field. Do you remember the study of electromagnetic fields near schools that showed increased cases of cancer because of rapid cell division in children. Now people are putting on 'smart' glasses and using cell phones everywhere and have stopped asking about what the heck is going on with the fields. ”

Ian nodded. “Yeah- fact becomes old forgotten news, kind of like the Epstein files. One mess gets lost in a growing pile of distractions.”

Kat continued, “Conveniently, we ignore the danger of induction that is at the center of bluetooth technology named after the Viking King Harold Bluetooth Gormsson. He effectively united  Denmark and Norway into Scandinavia, in the same way computers and cellular devices are now united. What is not mentioned is that Bluetooth died in battle when trying to expand too far and this marked the end of the Viking age.”

Ian picked up the pace of the walk. “Technology and especially computers have given mankind a healthy dose of instant gratification in finding answers. It is incredible how all or none Boolean binary codes work. They open and close our nervous system as well as circuits used in computers and electrical switches. One/ nought codes are very powerful, but the interactive effect of the resulting field is the current experiment in progress. We cannot predict the domino effect that might result from interacting waves in the field. Look at all of the  incorrect, unexpected, or undefined results due to flawed rules, overlapping data, or ambiguity.

Kat mused, “ It seems reasonable that people sharing the same framework will synchronize their response  like two pendulums that share a pivot point.”

Ian agreed. “True enough. I wonder about the aftermath of how body brain pathways will adapt to the transition from compulsive repeated thumb when using cell phones, that leads to the vagal nerve stimulation and triggers dopamine addiction loops in the brain. "

Kat nodded, “No kidding. We become hypnotized and lured into a dreamlike state, asleep to what is  in front of us.  We get caught in the  illusory effect of the smoke and mirrors of a magic lantern. We forget that even language holds words that have multiple meanings.  Combined with cascades of interpretations increased by punctuation translations exceed binary options.What we think we know and what we really know are not the same. We don’t know what we don’t know.”

Ian added, “Technology has grown faster than the human mind. As satellite trains move through the skies, people google and ogle at information from various search engines, yet the human mind generally has not changed. It creates a similar effect as climate change that causes early budding and flowering on fruit trees, that happens before pollinators have emerged. The systems are not in synch. The effect is failure for fruits to form. ” said Ian.

“Tell me more” asked Kat.

 Ian continued. “The computer age and AI deserve praise and hold the potential for  divine creativity to emerge, but the new Tower of Babel is dangerous.The  rigid framework designs of computer coding cannot replace the moral machine of the human mind. It does not capture the messy, gray realities of the real world. In biological systems, predictable pathways can be used to diagnose things like cancers, stage of pregnancy  and who knows what, but there are always the unknown factors that create unknown possibilities. Computers have leveled the playing field. Education does not totally limit access to materials, although understanding is often beyond the scope of those who translate the information.  People often invent the answer they want to receive.Wishful thinking works on interpretations and translations. "

The walk was coming to an end. Kat added, “The promises that computers will save paper, and streamline working protocols have proven to be false. Large data analyses are impressive, but the ethical dilemmas have not changed.   People make choices based on statistics that are easily swayed. People become prey to distracting crap that is so convincing.”

Ian said, “That reminds me of a call I got from scam artist who says 'this is the fraud department just call this number to verify.'  Really! "

Kat jumped in, “My peeve is companies that use machines instead of humans and then say, ‘Expect delays. Unexpected call volume is higher than normal ' They don't mention that they reduced staffing to increase profit. ”

Before heading home, Ian commented, “Topic change.  I’m reading Ann Pratchett. I enjoy how she explores high-stakes scenarios, professional competence, and moral dilemmas.”

“I’ll check her out. As always, great walk and talk. We haven't solved the problems of the world, but hopefully one day there will be changes to computers so that experience might match the  reputation of praise  they once promised. See you tomorrow.” Kat waved goodbye.