Gilbreth column: Social media geniuses need to fix this mess

(Source:The Post and Courier)The age-old philosophical question is: What is truth? Although absolute truth must exist, it’s nearly impossible to pin down by us mere mortals because we all have varying degrees of perception that distort reality to varying degrees. Defining truth is a lot more difficult than proving one’s existence, for example, a problem forever solved by Descartes’ famous observation in Latin: Cogito, ergo sum (I think, therefore I am.)

Generalities aside, and realizing that “everyone” on some level knows it to be true, can anybody really dispute that computers and artificial intelligence have taken over our lives? Whereas people love their smart iPhones, Androids and laptops and are constantly looking forward to the next great technological leap (such as 5G wideband access), there’s little doubt that computers have sunk their teeth into us and that it’s now “virtually” impossible to say nope, not doing this. It’s cash, a checkbook, a debit card, a land line and that’s it! (And it won’t be long before land lines are totally history, by the way.)