Dear Editor, 

Artificial Ignorance; the new blue goo for the hard of thinking. It seems to be what everybody’s talking about, and worrying about. There is reason to be concerned, but it’s the 3D part that is the real danger. 

In order to have millions of computers running random useless algorithms to spew out fluffy, meaningless text, they require data centres – big ones. Those data centres require vast amounts of electricity to operate and water for cooling. There have already been cases of these centres being built near small towns, and draining all resources, with very few jobs created locally. 

Is AI going to take your job? Well, if your job is creating celebrity gossip with no consequences, you’re already on the firing line. If your job is writing or filming advertisements for new non-functional gadgets or services, AI is way ahead of you. At present, it’s easy to spot the artificial content, because the overly-symmetrical fashion models shown playing guitar are not moving their fingers correctly, in time with the music. 

Those banks of computers are using your input to narrow down what you want to see, so that eventually, we might not be able to tell the difference. So what? The celebrities, the politicians, the rock stars are already two-dimensional characters, far removed from our real lives, like the gods of ancient mythologies. The one thing that can’t presently be synthesized is smell. Your sense of smell is the key to emotional memory, and that may be the last frontier of reality; a somewhat sad recognition for those of us who remember when love, life and existence were actuated with muscle and sweat, and people thinking for themselves. Create your own reality, populated with real friends, based upon what you know to be true. 

Robert Wills, Shawville and Thorne