For as long as I can remember there were two major schools of thought when it came to technology. There were purists, who believe technology and its advances were robbing us of authenticity and ultimately isolating us from reality. And then there were enthusiasts, who were optimistic about how technology could make life better, easier, and resources more accessible. But as time goes on, the discussion around technology is evolving, mainly because technology has become almost impossible to escape. There are still people who refuse to have a smart phone or have a social media presence in attempt to remain “unplugged”, but I think even those select few could argue that it has become more difficult to do that in the most recent of years, especially after COVID. And perhaps technology’s prevalence might have caused a shift from people belonging to one school of thought over the other. However, I think the conversation of technology has progressed into something more convoluted and maybe has left more people undecided as opposed to picking a side. Especially when considering A.I., currently the prime focus of discussion surrounding technological advancements. And coming from a generation (Millennials) that had experienced the evolution of technology, specifically social media, during formative years of adolescence, I must say I have even become more undecided as opposed to what I once was, an enthusiast.
For most people my age, I have found that our feelings have become complicated because we grew up with the internet and witnessed the ways it made our lives easier, but at the same time we also remember a time before that. And now, only from being so far removed from the days before the internet, do we miss it. When we were younger, technology and its advancements were presented as beacons of hope for a brighter tomorrow. Movies like Back to the Future showcased new and exciting toys like hoverboards and holograms. Disney movies like Zeon displayed cool fashion and glamorized living in space. However other movies like the Terminator that cautioned the advancements of technology seemed far-fetched. Robots having a mind of their own, why would anyone invent that?!
Which brings us back to A.I., when I was younger, more naïve, and less introspective, I would never have taken forewarnings of how technology can destroy society seriously. I probably wouldn’t even immerse myself in literature or articles that discussed those topics. I might have even tried to combat those sentiments because I was such an enthusiast. But as much as we can’t deny the ever-growing presence of A.I., we also can’t avoid the abundance of discussions that surround it. Which brought me to the book Culpability written by Bruce Holsinger. A fictional story about the dangers of A.I. wasn’t something I was necessarily seeking out, but curiosity had gotten the best of me, and it had also come up in my Spotify suggested audiobooks. Therefore, with a little help from technology, a respectable rating, and an Oprah’s book club stamp of approval, I clicked and immediately entered a world not so far-fetched from the one we are living in now.
To summarize, Culpability is about a family who, while on the way to a game, for which the eldest son is to compete in, gets into a deadly car accident. The family of five, all present in the car at the time of the accident, is left questioning the sequence of events and how such an accident is even possible when a “smart car” designed to prevent catastrophes becomes the center of one. Due to criminal investigations, family secrets, and unexamined family dynamics this fatal wreck changes the relationship between each family member forever. As Oprah puts it, “I was riveted until the very last shocking sentence!” It even had me purchase more hours of listening from Spotify so that I could finish the book within just a few short days. Beyond the intrigue of trying to figure out just what caused the accident, human error or technology, I was surprised at how modern the story turned out to be.
Because the book could be set in today’s world, it didn’t feel like the movies from my childhood. In the past, to have a story put technology at the forefront usually involved seemingly outlandish plots, but maybe the plots seemed outlandish because we could have never imagined the advancements that technology would make in just a few decades. I remember the Disney television movie Smart House and how impossible it seemed for your house to turn on electronics by just the sound of your voice and a command. And yet here we are 26 years later, mom robot aside, our gadgets can be synched and controlled by just our voice. Marketing promotions position this type of technology as “hands-free” meaning that you can multi-task and get more done with your day. But as the book Culpability explores, is having “hands-free” while driving something we really need? Is having more time to do more tasks what we want as a society?
In addition to hands-free technology, it is also faster to get information, communicate and receive material possessions. This would appear purely beneficial, but what happens when we expect everything else at a faster rate? As someone who used to be blind to the effect my smartphone had on my everyday life, I ask these questions now because something shifted within me after the pandemic. Maybe it was having a peek at what life would look like if we could only communicate over the phone, zoom, and social media or maybe it was losing my mother, but my perspective has shifted. And as I got older and gained more experience with technology, I started to notice just how much capitalism is its driving force.
When I was younger, capitalism’s main vehicle was television and film, more obviously in commercials. Then Netflix came and its main appeal in its early days was being able to watch content without commercials. This in turn forced businesses to find new ways to get our attention and now it seems we are inundated with nothing but product pushing. Rather it be something as obvious as an ad placement on an app we use or social media influencers who have dedicated their platform to product placements, we can’t escape consumerism. What we buy, watch, eat, consume is all through suggestions from an algorithm designed to get you to stay connected to whatever product it’s pushing. Some may read this and think that this is nothing new and to certain extent I agree but the evolution and rapid expansion of how and why we use technology should be examined more now than ever. Because technology has become a part of everything we do, we have now become more susceptible to its influence, leaving us vulnerable to being persuaded. And algorithms, the backbone of A.I., which is also discussed in Culpability, play a major role in the influence of that persuasion.
A general example can be seen in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary/Thesaurus app on smartphones, which is quick and convenient but saturated with ads. Even worse if you look up a certain number of words in a row, your whole screen becomes devoted to an ad. You can exit out of these ads but not without first being exposed to something that has been catered to your interests and not without also having excellent dexterity. As the only way to exit out of the pop-up is to click on the tiniest “x” you have ever seen in an even tighter corner, so that if your finger is just an inch off it will open the website or the app of the product it’s trying to sell.
Another example is the app I use to monitor my blood sugar, commonly referred to as a CGM (continuous glucose monitor). When I was first diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, I really struggled with tracking my blood sugar. Having to prick my finger after eating, especially eating out didn’t bode well with my OCD. So, when I saw a commercial about CGM’s, I was compelled but mostly influenced to buy one. However, with the help of the CGM, I have brought my A1C down and have even controlled my diabetes to the point where I don’t depend on medicine. But the example of influence is not solely from the commercial, there is also an app that accompanies the CGM. Therefore, I’m constantly looking at my phone to make sure my blood sugar is within the appropriate margins. Ultimately giving me another reason to always be on my phone. Thankfully, there are no ads on this app, but when I open my phone to check my blood sugar, I’m constantly distracted with a notification. Next thing I know I’m doom scrolling on whatever app that just pushed itself through to my awareness, even though initially I was just wanting to check my blood sugar.
One of the most infamous apps that causes doom scrolling is Tik Tok. I enjoy and appreciate what it brings; entertainment, news, and for some, a place for monetary compensation. However, this app serves as the best example of how our society is most affected by A.I. algorithms. I watched a video the other day where a woman used audio commonly referred to as a “sound” from the Disney channel cartoon Proud Family. The video starts off as a picture of her and her friend while on vacation and then quickly transitions to footage of hotel staff being filmed while captions across the video detail how her friend was missing, and how the staff from the hotel at which they both were staying were not trying to help her. I’m immediately suspicious because of cartoon theme music being used as a backdrop to a missing person’s case, but also simply because it’s on the internet. So, I went to the comment section. Most of the time you can gauge people’s reactions to the content by the comments, but Tik Tok is unique as often you can also find the audience riffing about the video. Although if the tone of the video is perceived as serious you can expect opinions rather than jokes. But as I read the comments, I found a mix of both. One comment mentioned how the use of a popular sound garners more views and therefore allows the video to be pushed to a wider audience. That particular comment was liked by the user who posted the video. After more research, which was assisted by using TikTok’s automated search, I was able to find other videos to help confirm if the story was real. One by a news outlet another by the previous missing woman, now found and telling her story. After seeing video after video detailing the whole incident, I couldn’t shake the idea that for this video to get pushed out by this app, it had to cater towards an algorithm. The idea of having to use audio from something that is trending, not related in any way to the subject of the video, and what many commenters seemingly deemed as inappropriate, to get the attention it deserved and quite frankly needed to find a missing person was deeply unsettling. The creator of that video ultimately did what they had to do to get their message across. But perhaps what is most upsetting is that on an app like Tik Tok, adding a nonsensical sound to a video with serious content makes sense and is actually a genius way to best the algorithm towards your advantage.
But where does catering to an algorithm for awareness and attention leave us as a society? Personally, I have seen this effect on news outlets, artists and most especially young teens who want viewers, notoriety, and popularity. Fundamentally, it has made anyone who uses social media and in a broader sense technology susceptible to conforming to its trends. When considering all of this, have we let the attractiveness of convenient technology put at risk our ability to have original thoughts? For some this may be a stretch but for someone who is online quite a bit it’s hard to see otherwise.
I took a break from being online for a while, because it started to influence my writing and how I wanted to express myself. Mainly due to the intoxicating rewards the internet offers such as likes, follows, and monetary gains. But to get those rewards you have to get noticed and pushed through to viewers and the best way to do that is by following what’s trending. Unfortunately, the current climate for trends usually has a divided nature. Meaning that if you want to hop on a trend, it usually involves you going against something to be in favor of something else. Forcing people to post just to declare which side they are on. Which makes it hard for the viewers to tell which posts are real or performative. For some, that usually involves the creator’s presence online, meaning the more engagement something receives the more the viewer and more importantly, the internet validates its existence. If viewers were more critical of the conflict that gauging popularity for validity brings, perhaps it wouldn’t be such an issue. But the audience also wants the internet’s approval, therefore they engage and agree with whatever they think brings the most attention.
Because the internet has become divisive, leaving viewers and creators with two options, for or against. This has resulted in our society adapting towards binary thinking, much like the binary code that creates technology. This way of thinking in just black and white, where multiple truths can’t exist in the same place, robs us of empathy and sympathy. It can sound far-fetched just like all the sci-fi movies mentioned before, but should we stay ignorant of certain outcomes and what it could mean for our society just because it seems unlikely? When I was young, I wrote off far-fetched sci-fi movies for that very reason, but in this present day and time nothing seems as unlikely as it once did.
Movies like The Matrix showcased a world where A.I. invades civilization beyond anyone’s control. And presently we’re in a time when A.I. can alter people’s perception of what is real or fake. Whether it comes from something A.I. has generated from models such as Chat GPT or something an algorithm has created by persuading our thinking, the lack of authenticity is everywhere. It may not be as drastic as it was depicted in The Matrix, but it leaves one to ponder more than ever before the cautionary tales movies like that presented.
This doesn’t mean that all technology is bad, but our consumption of which is probably better in moderation. However, when A.I. and more broadly technology fuels capitalism it becomes harder for people to be conservative about how much time they spend online. So where does that leave us?
I think that much like the Tik Tok creator I mentioned earlier, we should use technology to our advantage. We should be mindful of its influence and at the same time spread awareness about the power of its influence online. I hope that more books like Culpability are published and made available online as well, as it’s better to meet people where they are at rather than try to get them to quit something that has become a necessity. We also shouldn’t dismiss depictions of the dangers of technology just because it seems outlandish. I think it’s fair to say those days are no longer in the distant future and that we’re getting closer to what most sci-fi movies from the 80’s, 90’s and early aughts have imagined. And more importantly, my greatest hope is that what we learn from movies, literature, and our collective experience from being online evolves our critical thinking past just two schools of thought. Because unlike Neo in The Matrix we don’t have an option to go back to the way things used to be. Technology, A.I., and algorithms are here to stay but how we interact with them is our choice.
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