The AA, once first in the alphabet,
takes ages to answer distress calls.
When someone says AI
I say Ayee!
like a wounded Native American
in a curdled Sixties comic.
Now Microsoft is offering
to help me put words together.
I'm analogue, not digital,
and aware I'm being phased out.
Sun 19th Jan 2025 23:52
Stuff daytime TV Stephen, that's brainrot gear for sure.
Artificial intelligence? Real stupidity more like!
Today, at the supermarket, I was at one of those self-checkouts with a screen that had a picture of me staring back at myself.
It couldn't decide whether I was a desperate teenager with a drink problem, who was a master of disguise, or a genuinely grizzly bearded overweight old git in his 70's.
I felt sorry for the Asian assistant who was forced (rules is rules) to ask me in his best Lancashire twang: are you over 25?
Bloody Norah, what's the world coming to?😕
Thank you, Greg. It's a scary world. Calculators meant you no longer needed to be able to add up, Google means you don't have to know anything and now A1 means you don't have to think.
Daytime TV here we come!
I remember when computerisation was beginning in the retail world and I was fundamentally involved with it. Whilst trying to explain it to my interested father I remember thinking that he didn't understand a word I was saying. These days I am sure my sons (and daughters) think the same way!!
Thanks for the comments, Graham, Uilleam and Rolph, and for the Likes, Manish, Helene, Red Brick, Marla, Holden, K Lynn, Branwell, and Naomi. The world of apps and QR codes is more or less beyond me, yet without that knowledge it's becoming increasingly difficult to survive. You have to jump through many online hoops to set up online banking, or indeed, most things online. We are beseiged by long articles of bland rubbish on social media, all obviously composed via AI. And now Microsoft is offering to help us write! Yes, Uilleam, for those of us of a certain age, with anxiety adding to the mix, I fear we're in the soup!
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jan/18/uk-to-introduce-digital-drivers-licenses-to-transform-public-services
Fri 17th Jan 2025 15:42
Dear Greg,
I couldn’t agree more with your sentiments in "Alphabet, oops!"—I, too, am firmly in the "analogue, not digital" camp. Like you, I feel increasingly aware of how quickly technology is shifting and how it often feels like those of us who didn’t grow up as "digital natives" are being left behind. The transition to a world of AI and digital tools does seem to erase something essential, and it’s hard not to feel like we’re being phased out. Your observations on the inefficiencies and the dissonance with technology really resonated with me. I'm with you on this!
Best regards,
Rolph
Fri 17th Jan 2025 14:46
Two soops!
Fri 17th Jan 2025 09:50
In the course of writing two lines, I've been rudely patronised and insulted.
I've got one thing to say to effing COPILOT: .....................OFF!
Sorry, that's two.
I’m with you Greg. Pretty soon we won’t be able to believe anything we see as real! I think a good word for this state of make believe is to be ‘Trumped’ He’s not real either.
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Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh
Mon 20th Jan 2025 00:12
PS....Stephen, I've been up the A1 several times, and judging by the standard of driving up there, there's a distinct lack of thought.
😊