The internet made a bold promise – that people anywhere on the network would be equal. It suggested we would interact with people worldwide. The reality is that the routing, searching and dissemination is tightly controlled, monitored and targeted.

This online news site is one I enjoy and which attempts to be global and informative. Of course it makes editorial decisions but I am happier with their world view than most other publications online at the moment.

I have mentioned it before but this is another shout out for:

https://restofworld.org/

Taken from the coverage on BBC of a birth certificate apparently damaged intentionally while a Passport application was being made for a UK passport:

“The BBC has contacted the Home Office for comment, and was directed to Mr Cleverly’s reply on X to the original post.”

So this is how official communications are carried out by a government – a post on “X” (still prefer to say Twitter…). The state of it.

Home Office investigating after ‘Israel’ crossed out on baby’s birth certificate – BBC News

28th January each year. They kept it pretty secret.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Privacy_Day

This shall – undoubtedly – grow…

• Two people this weekend in my feed (TikTok and Instagram users) lost all their archive of posting – and they produced a lot of content – in a system where exporting was not a clear or easy process
• How do companies get away with selling – for cold, hard cash – a service and have no means of redress or feedback – and increasingly no trial period
• If I pay for a service – why do I also still get adverts – this seems to be something I notice happening with Amazon Prime – and they then say “pay another 2.99 to have the adverts removed”- I already pay for the service!
• If it ain’t broke – they keep on fixing it! New ‘features’ and ‘extensions’ seem to be de regueur. They invariably block out the original clarity and try to compete for all your business in a jack-of-all-trades method which we never wanted in the first place

The world seems more cruel and more desperate. Read Jaron Lanier’s approachable book on the impact of the “new media” and a lot of the warnings which appeared grandiose now seem understated. See: https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/books/jaron-lanier/ten-arguments-for-deleting-your-social-media-accounts-right-now/9781529112405/

What I cannot fathom is whether it is collective stupidity or are we destined to be driven by base, ancient fears which we are unable to overcome. Whatever it is we have let the genie out of the bottle and unless people can become mature enough, incredulous enough, to handle the weaponised information thrown at them then the future looks bleak.

AI is potentially going to make all and any information gathered from the NET impossible to believe. Maybe the day of credible, purchased reporting and old-fashioned journalistic integity are about to be welcomed to a new dawn.

Maybe.

I recently attended and enjoyed the Edinburgh University Futures Initiative panel discussion on AI.

Th BBC story linked to below was based on a similar, albeit richer, discussion. It has the US Secretary responsible for Technological development add almost nothing. The illustrious Amy Webb carries some weight in this sphere and states that an optimistic outcome – in terms of data privacy, transparency and integrity – has a 20% chance of probability.

We all know that is a very optimistic figure – the likelihood is 0 (zero).

The US business world, Russia, China and (for reasons I shall mention) the UK have done everything in their power to remove people from the loop in order that profit can be the only priority.

The only powerful regulatory body even discussing the impact on people’s lives globally is the European Union. In the Edinburgh University panel section the Chinese delegate caused a pause when pointing out China would love to see the EU approach be adopted globally – but it won’t.

In a quite shocking moment of reality the same panelist highlighted that in a UK University based panel of people from principal government advisors to board members of the major Silicon Valley companies to the Chair – not one person was a UK representative. The view in the US and China was that the UK is only of interest from a financial clearing point of view. It has token departments which the UK clings to – Cambridge and Milton Keynes oft-cited as centres of excellence. They get scarcely discernible, residual sums of cash and employ fewer than the number of seasonal staff in a single Chinese or Korean assembly factory. But the UK was central in undermining the EU.

In the parlors of the UK intelligent people have long discussions about the great potential of the UK. It’s history of survival and innovation. Except we now only excel in Artisan areas. The major industries – no longer. Only the financial is of global impact and does anyone truly believe that UK Politicians really exercise true authority in a globalised flat earth?

The 20% cited here as an optimistic outcome is simply trying to be upbeat. Not a chance.

The real pain of genuine recession and the likelihood of majority unemployment is not too far away. Ironically, two of the areas which AI models agreed would lose their status and income were Lawyers and Academics! They will be able to keep busy talking about how unfair it all is in lofty tones. Politicians, the models decreed, were required to keep the human sphere happy. The horror! And while we often cite the creative arts as vulnerable – those were considered particularly valuable to humanity and creativity in the models.

Was this disinformation on their part? Who can tell. You have to laugh! They learn a lot faster than we ever did.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64967627