Would You Believe ...?

                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Those who read my last essay were probably expecting “Cogito Ergo Sum – Pars II” today – at least those who cared enough after reading the first part to look for the second. But, in the immortal words of Maxwell Smart, “Sorry about that.” If you don't know who Maxwell Smart is, you'll probably find him using one of the many search agents available on the internet. It's just a click away.

Clicking. That's the problem. I just learned that CES had been published a couple of days ago even though my intent was to do so today. My computer blew it.

Well, not really. Computers are stupid – they don't think on their own.ⁱ Yes I know about Halⁱⁱ and about artificial intelligence,ⁱⁱⁱ but all they do is prove my point. Their intelligence is artificial. They only do what they're programed to do. And we humans do the programing, and we're too stupid ourselves to ensure that the machines don't respond to unintended inputs and aren't given the ability to override our commands.

No. At least for the moment they respond to whatever we instruct them to do, and they're unable to alter that or act on their own. So unless there's a problem with the power source or a failure of one of their components, the errrors are ours. And GIGO.^iv We write the software and we operate the hardware.

But people, although they may operate more slowly, designed the systems based on their own knowledge and based on the way we think. We're just as programed as they. We've learned to respond to particular inputs – mediated through our senses or by internal signals – in particular ways. Our reactions, though they may be based on chemical stimuli rather than electrical, are just as mechanical as theirs. In fact much of our neural system is dependent on electrical transmission.

So, “clicking.” I guess that I must have clicked the wrong button when, a while back, I added the essay on my “to be published” list. The computer is to dumb to act on its own. And the program hasn't changed since the last time I used it. It must have been me.

But wait. I'm “smarter than the average bear.”^v I'm never wrong. The problem couldn't have been any error on my part. It must have been electrical, machine failure, or bad programing by Blogspot, or magic. Or something else.

Would you believe … a miracle? If so, I have a bridge ...

i       At least not yet.

ii      You can look him up too, right after Maxwell Smart.

iii     For those who lack, or can't afford, the real thing.

iv      You can search for that after those other hunts are done.

v       Another of those tag lines from the last century. Yogi would be proud.