Once again, Linda Stowe brings us some great insights, this time concerning the “lack of common sense or critical thinking in the population.” Personally, I think there is a severe shortage of common sense in the world. But these days, in many cases, people rely on the digital world to move them through their days. I know that I enjoy having the “connected” assistance I didn’t have when I was a child. Just this morning, I asked my watch, “How tall is a giraffe?” And in half of a second, my watch answered back, “A giraffe is 18 feet tall.” When I was ten years old, that would have taken a long bike ride to the library to figure out. Or a consultation with our Encyclopedia Brittanica.
I’ll say no more, but instead, turn this over to Linda for another excellent look at our world.
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Intelligence by Linda Stowe
We often hear people bemoan the lack of common sense or critical thinking in the population. Common sense is developed naturally through experience, learned through trial and error. Critical thinking on the other hand is a more systematic approach to evaluating information. Although common sense is more intuitive and critical thinking involves more logic, neither is an exact science.
In this day of smartphones and smart houses I wondered if there was an app for that. If I had to solve a problem that involved critical evaluation, could I merely login to my computer and pull up the app?
I asked my buddy Bard this question and it turns out there are many applications of critical thinking already at work in our lives. Here are a few examples (quoting Bard):
Self-driving cars use common sense to navigate the roads and avoid obstacles. For example, they know that they should stop at red lights, yield to pedestrians, and avoid driving on the wrong side of the road.
Virtual assistants use common sense to understand our requests and provide helpful responses. For example, they know that if we ask them to play music, they should play music that we like, and if we ask them to set a reminder, they should set a reminder for a time that is convenient for us.
Fraud detection systems use common sense to identify suspicious activity. For example, they know that if someone tries to make a large purchase with a credit card that has never been used before, that is a sign of potential fraud.
Medical diagnosis systems use common sense to rule out possible diseases and make accurate diagnoses. For example, they know that if someone has a fever, cough, and sore throat, they are likely to have a cold, not pneumonia.
Personalized recommendations use common sense to suggest products and services that are likely to be of interest to us. For example, if we have recently purchased a book about gardening, we are likely to be interested in other books about gardening.
As artificial intelligence continues to develop, we can expect to see even more applications that use common sense to make our lives easier and more efficient.
Bard is right, these applications do make our lives easier and more efficient. But I wonder if we are relinquishing too much power to artificial intelligence. As we move into a “one size fits all” society, I worry about the square pegs in the world. I also worry about our loss of personal autonomy.
Intelligence by Linda Stowe
