When I told my teenage daughter that I’d broken my blog her response was that “blogging is dead”! So, before I put the effort in to fix this blog, I investigated (via social media) whether this was true. Is everything now Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and the Fediverse? I’m pleased to say that this isn’t the case. People are still writing blogs and also reading them. So whether or not my blog is useful or interesting, it still has a place on the Internet.
Blogging is in our control and isn’t driven by algorithms or advertising that is controlled by a handful of incredibly rich people. Well designed blogs and websites allow us to look back (try and see my tweets from 2014 or my first photos on Instagram) and read more considered posts (no need for a tweet unroll here). So there’s definitely a place for blogs (hurray)! That’s not to say social media is necessarily bad – Instagram in its early days was glorious. However, on the current popular platforms, we are too open to manipulation and it’s much, much harder to find people with similar interests, but different lives, in different parts of the world.
The world has changed enormously in the 14 years since this blog started. Personally I’d used Ravelry for a few months and chatting online was otherwise based around forums I’d access to via work. Although Facebook and Twitter existed they weren’t so universal and Instagram didn’t start until a couple of years later. Now we have algorithms controlling what we see. Make a post with a link in it on Facebook – and no one will see it (you can try this out for yourself – it won’t be scientific but it is worth thinking about). In addition, algorithms are inserting sponsored and “suggested” posts and click bait – distorting what we see and interrupting what we were hoping to read. Then there’s the content that makes you wonder if a human even wrote it!
And this leads me to the title of this ramble. “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” is a novel by Philip K. Dick – which is the inspiration of the film “Blade Runner”. AI, I suspect, has the potential to be brilliant and lead us to the lovely world of computers being an integrated and helpful part of our lives while we explore and flourish (just like Star Trek portrays) or (as many are predicting) down a considerably more dystopian path.
I’m a software engineer, but not an expert on AI, so my knowledge is much the same as any layperson. However, anecdotal reports seem to suggest that AI produced output isn’t particularly accurate and the AI will make things up and give fake sources for the information (I note that I’ve not given any sources for this). My own experiments with ChatGPT resulted in output that was uninspiring at best and on technical subjects very shallow, albeit well written. In conversations I’ve suggested that asking an AI for information is like asking an 8 year old, who can write exceptionally well. We wouldn’t rely on the 8 year old’s response. However, a well written response from a computer appears more trustworthy!
Now I never thought I’d come down on the side of the luddite (ironic for someone with a blog full of spinning, weaving and other textile craft)! However, I personally don’t want to be reading uninspired work generated by an AI. In the same way I don’t want anyone to read my blog and wonder if it’s genuine or produced by AI. It turns out I’m not the only one to think this! Searching for a No AI logo turned up a website dedicated to promoting AI free content. So, in this somewhat serious post, I will include one of their fabulous logos. I’ll also put a logo on my menus and a link to their “no AI pledge”!
