NYT‘s David Brooks zoomed out to reveal the evolution of our social philosophy, from care for the Soul, to Personality then eventually to Decision-making (data deluge).
This is the age of the intelligent machine. Massaging data. Algorithm and Analytic.
No wonder, machine language also creeps into our daily speech.
Let’s try to pin them down.
First we google it.
Terms like cramming, cookies, cache . Technology trumps theology.
A friend tries to ramp up her business. But she needs to retool herself with business and soft skills.
Let’s get cranked up. You are running low on bandwith.
He gunned the engine, but given high gas price of late, he ended up running on empty.
He hardly processes the information before pulling the plug on the project.
One needs to fast-track the program. Otherwise, we call it pre-empt.
EV Battery company runs out of juice, but us human runs low on battery.
With the advent of social media, we are inundated with invitations from strangers whom we don’t want to interface with.
He goes about his day on auto-pilot.
We are analog creatures using digital devices.
Just pop the TV dinner into the microwave.
You look stressed. You need to press “reset”.
Please scan your right index finger for identification, raise and stretch both arms (let everything drop) for the metal-detector.
The class doesn’t tune in to the lecture tonight.
I am exhausted; I need to reboot.
If you rushed to market , you might crash.
As far as this relationship goes, it’s been on screen-saving mode.
Exhausted, I feel I need a massage to recharge.
There was a time in the 60’s when terms like “groovy”, “swell” etc.. appeared then disappeared.
It is to show as a species, we do move on to better “versions”. In social psychology, we concentrate on WE (60’s), then ME (70’s) and now IT (the machine). Someday, it will be MIT (me and machine – Ipod, Iphone, Ipad going to bed together. My nephew sleeps with the I-pad on, to listen to audio-books).
Issues like interoperability, integration and convergence were dealt with in the Bicentennial Man.
In the end, Robin Williams who played the Machine, asked to be terminated. He regret not being able to cry, like us.
Life is like peeling the onion, one layer at a time. Sometimes, it makes us cry. I would rather die a man than to live in eternity as a machine, quoted Andrew Martin. In other words, please “unplug” me when it’s time to go. Someone quoted aptly that “Jesus wept”. Crying has been a privilege.
It also makes us human. It even makes God human. Empathic we are. I feel for the machine, who no matter at what speed of processing, cannot shed tears. Maybe David Brooks can write a code to teach the machine to evolve, from data and decision matrix to have some personality, and eventually to care for the Soul. Man and Machine can then meet half-way.
Borders bookstore owner
Thang Nguyen 555 