Bring on the Humans!

I have a HUGE pet peeve regarding modern technology and other 21st-century innovations and practices.

Okay, that’s not entirely accurate. I actually have several serious pet peeves when it comes to today’s world of tech and modernizations.

While AI isn’t my current number one annoyance (though I must say it easily rivals the present offenders topping my hate list), I’ll begin my rant with forms of artificial intelligence.

1.

When I look for a new novel to read, I don’t want a generic, computer-generated story. I want to immerse myself in a story written by an honest-to-goodness person. Someone who formed ideas into plots and arcs with beginnings and endings, and developed characters we can relate to, love, or hate (characters who sometimes even drag us through the gamut of emotions over the course of a book). Forget AI. Give me the creation of someone who is, or once was, a living, breathing human. A writer who personally penned the words and created sentences that originated from their head and their heart.

2.

Another modern innovation I view as an enemy: AI-operated vehicles. No doubt about it, as humans, we’re all fallible from time to time. We occasionally have errors in judgment that can be disastrous, and sadly, even fatal. But I’ll take the choices of a human driver over a self-driving car any day of the week.

Perhaps I didn’t research my computer as thoroughly as I should have before I bought it, but it’s proven to be an unreliable piece of crap. It freezes up and glitches so often that even though I’m normally an extremely mild-mannered individual, I’ve considered throwing it through the window. A different brand may have been considerably more reliable than my present $1,500 hunk of metal, but my point is, a human behind the wheel may at least have a chance to correct a problem. If a computer chip goes out in a self-driving car, you’re S.O.L. (as may be other cars, passengers, and pedestrians on or near the roadway).

3.

I could go on and on about why I’m not a fan of AI in general, but I think by now, you’ve figured that out. Therefore, I’ll only add this to my outburst before moving on to my current number one innovation issue: Even Elon Musk, a big proponent of Artificial Intelligence, admits there could be a 20 percent chance robots would wipe out humans in the next decade. I don’t know about you, but a one-in-five chance that a robot could take me... or my loved ones... out scares the living daylights out of me! Seriously, did you watch Terminator or I,Robot? Those movies and others similar to them no longer seem quite so futuristic.

My biggest complaint about modern practices for now? Self-checkout lanes! They are intent on thwarting me every time I’m relegated to using one. Either the item’s UPC isn’t recognized, or it rings up a different price than advertised, or it won’t read my debit or credit card, or the bill gets caught in the insertion slot when I’m paying cash…. Arrgh! And since self-checkouts are the reason for fewer store personnel, it’s often like pulling an alligator’s tooth to get an attendant’s help.

That’s it… a single paragraph for my number one beef at the moment (it happens to rank first because I had two of the aforementioned issues in a self-checkout line this week, not including the time I spent waiting for a store employee to help out). Nonetheless, one paragraph pretty well encapsulates my displeasure.

In short, I say leave humans in charge. After all, we've done pretty well as a species overall.