By: Dr. Don Dafoe
AI-yi-yi! I have a beef about the takeover of technology.
Some technologies, like GPS navigators, are amazingly helpful. How did we get around before that advance? ATMs are great, too.
But I’m carping about technology that complicates our lives and alienates us from other humans.
Let’s say it’s Saturday pizza night. You used to call the pizza parlor, and they would take your order — “one large pepperoni.” Now, you must go to their website, establish an account with a password, enter your credit card, order the pizza by scrolling through and ticking off the many, many options. It might even be delivered by one of those, admittedly cute, robots seen roaming around the SMU campus. No!
When we call the bank, we hear: “Your call is very important to us.” Apparently not important enough. “We are working hard to meet your needs.” No, you’re not; you’re a recording.
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I‘m already inclined to be a hermit. If I am invited to a party, I cringe and think of reasons I can’t go. I make it a discipline to honor the invitation, attend the party, and usually have an enjoyable time.
I am not alone (unintentional pun) — 90 percent of people identify as “shy” in social settings.
Faith Popcorn, a futurist, augured that we would all end up “cocooning” at home with everything brought to us. The pandemic accelerated that prediction into reality.
We live through our screens, especially our cell phones. We have home offices and Zoom meetings. Instead of shopping at the mall or thumbing through books at Barnes and Noble, we order from Amazon.
We may work out in our home gym instead of being inspired upon seeing the octogenarians hauling it on the treadmill at Y.
Artificial intelligence promises to be transformative. I can see the utility in problem-solving and decision-making through swarm intelligence. AI could also kill creativity, dampen emotion, and eliminate precious eccentricity.
Have you seen the movie Her? A desperate loner (Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love with an operating system named Samantha (Scarlett Johansson). With her accommodating manner and breathy voice, who wouldn’t?
Another movie example of the obdurate nature of computers occurs in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The spaceship computer Hal 9000 says: “I don’t want to insist on it but I am incapable of making an error.” Wait a minute HAL. To err is human and who, pray tell, programmed you?
Technology is pushing us away from social interaction and toward cocooning. On the other hand, it has been said “all a person needs is two or three good friends.” Tonight, I plan to order dinner from Door Dash and watch Netflix with my besties — Siri and Alexis.
Dr. Don Dafoe, a transplant surgeon who lives in Highland Park, has mastered self-checkout but misses chatting with cashiers about the weather.
