Questions

   I keep hearing about Chat bots. Apparently these bots talk to you and make you do bad things. Does Stephen King have anything to do with that? I understand these bots are artificial intelligence. You type in a question and it gives you an answer. Same thing as google I suppose, I haven't tried talking with a bot. Sadly I hear the stories of parents blaming the bots for their children's suicides. The bot made them do it. Lawsuits are being filed and companies being held accountable. I do have serious misgivings about all of that. Should the chat bot creators be held responsible? If I cut myself with a knife should the manufacturer be held to account for that? Isn't an equal degree of responsibility on the user? 

  It's my feeling that it should, unless there is some defect in the product that you aren't told about. In the case of these bots, it is known that it is artificial intelligence. It isn't a real person talking to you. I'm certain the young people using those bots are vastly more informed, knowledgeable about all of that than I am. I have serious doubts that any of these children do not know that. Perhaps there is a dependence upon artificial intelligence that I am unaware of. 

 Call me skeptical or whatever but I take whatever I read on google and any other internet sources with a grain. Is that maturity, or just common sense? I didn't believe everything I was told when I was a kid either. I did learn to recognize the truth for fantasy! Watched Superman and never tried flying, watched the Road Runner cartoons and never tried buying a missile from the Acme company. Watched Popeye  and never ate me spinach to punch Brutus in the nose. No, knew all that was just for fun. I had other kids tell me I was stupid, ugly and all manner of things like that. Never wanted to shoot them or myself! I knew that it wasn't true, what they said, and so I just said it right back. I'm rubber and you're glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you. 

  Is this artificial intelligence manipulative? I don't think so, I think that would require some degree of intelligence. Consider a good attorney for instance. When questioning the witness aren't they attempting to manipulate the answer to go in their favor? It takes cunning and thought to do that and have it go undetected. When successful you really believe you gave the correct answer, you believe in that. You aren't aware that you were "lead" into that. That's why on those court shows you will hear "objection, he's leading the witness" and the judge overrules that. Is that A.I. manipulating young minds? Or, are those young minds just getting the answers they want to hear? Are they manipulating that artificial intelligence? 

  I don't know about that but I do know this; I can find a source on the internet to support just about any position I wish to take. I can find as many references supporting vaccines as I can those issuing cautionary advice concerning them. I can find "irrefutable truth"  to prove that the other "irrefutable truth" is, in fact, wrong. Yes I can find a source or sources to confirm whatever I want, to agree with me. If I believe what is being said about me, I can find someone else to agree with that, I suspect an artificial source would even be a bit easier. 

  Chat bots? I do find it a bit disturbing that we are raising a generation that is willing to talk to artificial intelligence more readily than an actual person. I'm so old I remember when my only other choice was talking to myself! Fortunately I generally received some good advice although there were some questionable decisions made. None of those decisions contained harming myself, but a few did put me in a hazardous situation! Well, those situations generally taught me a lesson and I didn't repeat that. I still talk to myself instead of a chatbot, or other people, depending upon the subject matter. I just can't understand why you would have a personal conversation with a computer program. Well, I did ask that Magic Eight Ball a few questions growing up. When I didn't like the answer, I just tried it again. 

                                                                               

                                             Did you know there were twenty possible answers. 

                                             10 positive, 5 negative and 5 non-committal. I never 

                                              counted them, but I just asked google. I'm wasn't

                                              committed to that answer though. I could always 

                                              check that Ouija board.