Someone told me the other day that they'd like to see all this artificial intelligence nonsense banned. It's just too strange, and it's likely to change the world in too many ways. All I can say is, good luck with that. I think we have a better chance of outlawing texting than slowing down AI. I'm all for outlawing texting, by the way, because I suffer from CTS (Clumsy Thumbs Syndrome) and I make a lot of mistakes when I text. If only we had a way to communicate directly with someone using our voice.
It's not often that a new technology gets stuffed back in the box. I'll give you an example.
I have seen many wonders in my life, but it would be hard to top Galileo's finger. It's definitely on my all-time top five list. The finger is kept in a little glass egg in a display case in the Galileo Museum in Florence, Italy. It is his middle finger, which ups the cool factor quite a bit. After the way he was treated by the Pope and his Catholic neighbors, I suppose there is a great deal of irony in this fact.
I write a lot about new technology and all things digital, so I think Galileo's middle digit is fair game. A few years back, I found myself standing in front of that display case in Florence, wondering if Galileo would find the whole thing hilarious if he were to come back today.
One thing he might recognize is how reluctant some people are to deal with a world that is changing around them. When he invented his telescope, everyone thought it was pretty cool. That all changed in 1633, when Galileo published his book arguing that the Earth revolves around the sun. Up until then, the Pope thought it was okay for Galileo to mess around with the idea that the earth wasn't the center of the universe, as long as nobody took it seriously. But in his new book, Galileo used a character named Simplicio, which today would be like naming a character Captain Dummy. Many people who read Galileo’s book figured out that Simplicio was really code for the Pope. So Galileo basically implied that Pope Urban VIII was a simpleton.
All of a sudden, Galileo found himself under house arrest for the rest of his life. The "house" was actually the palace of one of his friends, so I don't imagine it was too tough on him. He also had to "recite penitential psalms" once a week for three years. That doesn’t sound to difficult, compared say to cleaning out the spam files on our phones. Besides he farmed he penitential psalms thing to his daughter, who was a nun, so she was already into that sort of thing.
I doubt he did any real complaining, since the alternative was to be burned at the stake by the Inquisition. Oh, and his book was banned, of course. The thinking probably was that if people couldn’t see it in writing, the sun would still revolve around the Earth.
Every age has its own debates about changing the world and whether or not that's a good idea. It’s awfully difficult to stop any new information once it’s out there. That “burning at the stake” business might do the trick, but maybe not. People can be stubborn.
If we’re stilI set on banning something, I think banning texting is the way to go. Then maybe someday there will be a museum displaying the thumb of whoever invented such a stupid method of communication. And if they make a display sign using Spellcheck, I bet it will be unintelligible.
