Originally released Aug. 2/23 on Tumblr
Riverman’s Journal Oct. 8/23
Well here we go, this is the first blog I have ever done. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this. With so much content in the world today, I truly appreciate your time.
All this media these days be it online blogs, social media, streaming, video games or any new one I haven’t heard of yet. It is a far cry from when I grew up in the 80’s.
I grew up in Bonny River NB Canada we had 2 tv channels, 3 if the weather was good. A dial tone phone, cassette players, (I know I have lost all the kids now, as they are asking themselves what the heck those things are.) well here’s a hint kids, music.
Our cameras took awhile to get your photos back and you hoped they came out good. There was no Netflix or other streamers but it was a real joy getting to the movie rental store and finding a copy of the movie you wanted still available. A real disappointment if it was gone. However once in awhile you would find a gem you really liked if you decided to have a deep dive through the ones you never heard of before.
The biggest difference back then, now prepare yourself kiddies, there was no WIFI!!! Now you are probably thinking what the heck did we do back then. Well, we went outside, ya I know pretty wild to consider that one isn’t it? Outside, you only go there to go somewhere or if by accident these days. No we went outside on purpose, to ride our bikes, play street hockey or other sports, play with friends, hang out. Now a days we have everything at our finger tips. We have a phone, camera, photo album, calculator, mini computer, movie player (through streaming services), calendar, alarm clock, games, flash light, email, banking abilities, internet, and so much more.
Its funny looking back at a show like Star Trek the original series how they had communicators, hand held devices you spoke to people with. I still think of them sometimes when I have the speaker on during a conversation on my phone.
Still haven’t got the transporters down yet, but the things we are capable of now though is still quite impressive, for years now they have thought controlled prosthetics (still is unbelievable to me).
We have artificial intelligence(AI), a hot topic of whether or not we should even be messing with such a thing. There is however no going back with it now though as it is available online to write anything you want. Though its data banks are only updated to late 2021. It can however create works of art, or any kind of image you desire based on text description.
That still depends on the persons ability to use their own words to get it to create what they want. The seemingly only thing holding that aspect of it back, as some people will be better than others at that, for now. They have highly intelligent AIs implanted or installed in robots or should I say androids to have conversations with humans. To the point some people may not even realize that it is not another person they are speaking with.
Some of the best AIs can think so fast the whole population of the planet would take some where in the ball park of 200 days + to process what some AIs can in a matter of seconds. That is scary for the ones who don’t truly understand the AI. Such as myself who still to this day whenever I hear the world AI or super computer, my first thought is Skynet! For whomever doesn’t get that reference then shame on you, lol.
Now certainly there is a lot of good that can come from AI there is no doubt, be it for medical purposes or saving lives in a different matter. We just need to have some kind of contingency plan for any possible bad. We after all are just human and there is always room for human error in the programming or constructing, or in extreme cases malice or intent.
Now when our grandchildren are the ones running the planet just imagine all those features I listed before on our cell phones that will seem like a dinosaur of technology just like the VHS. Google it kids.
How did you enjoy this article? What things of days past did I leave out? Please leave a comment.