Karen’s Weekly-ish Technology Hits Review

#AI #addiction #scams #genderequality #research

Welcome, lovelies, to this week's review of technology from diverse viewpoints. Let’s dive right in, shall we?

I can’t decide whether Liam Sturt’s story about replicant chatbots is a good thing for humanity or not. It’s a novel read, though.

I can picture people with more money than sense and friends wanting one of their own, can’t you?

We most likely won’t have to worry about it unless we live to the 2070s.

I could see a use for it replacing the dementia or Alzheimer’s addled brains of physically healthy people somehow, though.

Losing a loved one prematurely is one of the most horrific experiences in life. Given a choice, would you bring a loved one back using A.I? You had the choice to digitally reincarnate your loved ones, turning them into a chatbot that could live forever. The technology used for this creation is complicated and scary; sci-fi is becoming a reality. These chatbots are evolving at a rapid rate.

A short-form from Marcus, which I 100% agree with. He links back to his very first post on Medium, also very much worth reading.

AI should fact-check news and advertising, especially political advertising, in which I would broadly include any statement by a person running for office that gets disseminated in any fashion, as fact-checking does not require any emotional intelligence — only requires.

Many times have I closed the tabs on various social media. Sometimes for weeks at a time. Years, even, for Facebook. This approach doesn’t work if you want your work to be found by readers. I have abandoned Quora and Tumblr, the former because people ask questions they could look up on Google, and the latter because I don’t understand how to use it!

This list gives the top 21 social media sites for marketing your creations.

Now to Tobi Olabode’s well-argued piece. One argument is that different people handle social media and screen time differently. Some will become addicted, some won’t and others will fall anywhere in between.

I’d like to add that anything done to excess may lead to addiction. Those lines about everything in moderation are no joke.

Last week I read a report by the Data & Society. A research group that investigates the impact of technology. The report talks about the common myths of technology. One myth I will be exploring is social media is addictive and powerless to resist.

Marketing-savvy Melinda Blau reckons being old enough to be our grandmother assumes she is not tech-savvy. I beg to differ.

We all want to give people the benefit of the doubt. Common sense does kick in eventually, though.

Scammers beware, Melinda Persistent is on your case! Don’t believe any unsolicited call is my mantra. Heck, I don’t even answer the phone. Stay safe, everyone!

I say marketing-savvy because Melinda enticingly wrapped up three of her stories in a short form story. Of course, I had to read all three!

The phone rings. The woman claims to be from Microsoft. My online connectedness is in jeopardy, she claims, and I almost believe her because I’m that desperate to maintain them.

We’ll finish with a fellow editor and prolific writer, Terry L. Cooper. She’s written tons for SYNERGY and now has a cunning plan to run a 20+ series of articles featuring other exciting writers.

Dr. Patricia Farrell is the first in (what I hope to be) an ongoing series. As of this writing, Dr. Farrell has 1.1K followers. Not too shabby. She covers a variety of topics, but the common thread between them is medicine. Today I will focus on how technology plays a role in the medical field.

My maternal grandmother suffered first from dementia in her early to mid-80s, and then full-blown Alzheimer’s four or five years later. My mother cared for her.

Constantly watching another person, to ensure they don’t set fire to themselves and the house or locking away their prescription drugs and any other drugs because they forget they have already taken them is exhausting.

Screaming at an Alzheimer’s sufferer because they have urinated on the way to or from the bathroom, leaves both parties hurt and confused.

As well as recommending Terry’s work, I recommend everyone read Dr. Patricia Farrell’s article.

Star read

The star read this week is from ILLUMINATION-Curated. I thought we could do with a bit of cross-pollination between the publications.

Rebecca Romanelli has been a favourite read of mine since her Nasty Woman story. I learned there’s nothing wrong with being a nasty woman. There’s everything wrong with being a nasty man, as Rebecca clearly illuminates in this story.

I came across an article in World News which increased the spring in my steps and not in a healthy way. There it was…again. Another woman mysteriously disappearing off the streets, this time in London.

Thank you so much for reading this weekly-ish review. See you soon.

Here are my editorial bulletins for your delight. A quick way to discover new and upcoming writers on ILLUMINATION, ILLUMINATION’S MIRROR, and Technology Hits.