Coding matters: How would you cope?

What would you do if there was no technology, no internet, no cell phones? How would you cope?

There are plenty of movies, books and games set in post-apocalyptic worlds. I recently watched a Netflix series called “Sweet Tooth“. It’s a feel-good story about a hybrid boy in such a world. The apocalypse was, unsurprisingly, caused by a virus. I wondered how the characters developed the life skills they needed in that world. The lab janitor turns into a survivalist. The therapist is a crack shot. The young protaganist knows how to fix a radio.

We depend on tech

Almost everything in our modern world depends on technology in some form. If we want to know how to do something, we use our phones to google it.

How would I learn how to repair a radio without the internet? Actually, I’m not sure I could do it even with the internet. Without some basic understanding of how a radio works, could I make sense of the instructions? And that’s assuming I don’t get stuck with wrong instructions.

Has tech already changed our skills?

I have a poor sense of direction, so I love GPS. I want Google Maps available even when I probably don’t need it.

I had to make two trips this week to an area I used to know, but haven’t been to for a long time. The first time I used the GPS there and back. I realised that I have lost confidence in my ability to find my way without that friendly voice.

So I challenged myself to do the second trip without GPS. I managed, except for the last 300m. I navigate by street names rather than landmarks, so it was a problem when there was no street sign. I frantically opened Google Maps – just in time to turn at the traffic light.

There’s a similar argument about using calculators in maths classes at school. I don’t want to open that can of worms. But I am dismayed when people can’t calculate 10% of something. Or need their phone to figure out the change if I give them R103 to pay for an item that cost R63.

By the way, when last did you memorise a cell number?

The AI explosion continues

AI continues to make news, and not always in a good way. Here are a few items I came across recently:

1. The WEF predicts that new tech will create 69 million new jobs and destroy 83 million jobs by 2027. A net loss of 14 million jobs (and I didn’t need a calculator for that). This is from an article on ITWeb.

2. The city of Yokosuka in Japan has decided to trial ChatGPT for admin tasks. It wants to reduce the workload of public servants. You can read that article here. ChatGPT will definitely do a better job than most SA government employees.

3. Google employees raised quality concerns and ethical complaints about Google’s Bard. According to the article, these concerns were ignored in the rush to market.

4. The Washington Post set out to analyze the data sets used to train Google’s AI. The list includes proprietary, personal, and even offensive websites.

5. StackOverflow, Reddit and Twitter plan to start charging AI companies for using their data. Although the article I read didn’t draw any conclusions, that will probably put an end to the free use of these tools.

What about the future?

Will AI rule the world, or will some doomsday event wipe out tech? Nobody knows. I have no plans to learn to fix radios or survive without electricity (despite Eskom’s best attempts). But I do wonder what important skills we will lose without realising it.

I’d love you to share your comments.