What is the next big step in technology? We are in the middle of one but most of us are not paying attention.
Do you remember when you discovered the power of the Google search? I remember using it as a teacher to root out plagiarism in my students work. It was awesome. I could type in a suspicious sentence and quickly find out where it came from originally.
The current big step is backwards. More and more often we find that the programmers of the so called AI and the algorithms that deliver unsought videos are out to limit our access to information.
A good example of this is found at the Lazy Farmer. He is a resourceful individual who has been using YouTube videos to find out how to fix things. We have all done that or should have. I had a broken lawn tractor and found several videos that showed me how to take care of it. At that time the problem was not YouTube but the little quirk that cooks have of leaving out one small ingredient or step when they tell you how to proceed.
The Lazy Farmer documents his discussions with the AI that used to be helpful but is being reigned in by the developers. The program confesses it has been told not to answer certain questions.
Searching for information is at a crossroad of finding nothing and only finding what the cultural architects want you to find. It is increasingly useless or decreasingly useful, take your pick.
The environment is being prepared for the next step forward. Not being into tech I have no idea what it will be based on or how it will spread but people who were used to the vision of a free internet are increasingly realizing that the vision has cataracts. When it appears I assume that the existing power structure will try to pull a Microsoft and put them out of business but eventually there will be a tool that will survive. The current giants will try to reform and promise to do better. Hopefully the general public will remember the Peanuts cartoon with Lucy pulling the football out of reach.
Of course the greenies could also win and bring down all modern technology. It is hard to access an internet powered by unicorn farts and rainbows.
homo unius libri
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Opus 2026-169: Next!
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.