Hal the Mal

I have just come to the conclusion that computers are not going to take over the world after all. Robots such as Hal (if you don't get this reference, I just don't know what to tell you other than "I can't let you do that, Dave") are not going to decide to kill us all off. They are not going to conquer us to use as batteries. And they will not be oddly happy servants that some guy in overalls comes to repair (think the Jetsons). Rather, it will be like any cheap source of labor, whether it be immigrants who understand far better than the spoiled natives the value of "crap" jobs and the value of a free society, or jobs overseas, which have a very similar story. They'll do the jobs and tasks the rest of us just don't want to do. As technology slowly advances, these are the tasks we will build robots and AI computers to do. Garbage collection, sewer repair, factory work, tax auditor, all those jobs which involve inhuman conditions or sorting through human refuse. Of course, this will create new jobs, many of which simply do not exist yet. If you don't believe me, how would you explain the job of computer programer or network security to someone from, for example, the twenties? It's simply a job that had no meaning then. I don't know what the jobs will be, and I can't predict them. I'm lucky I'm able to figure out how to manage this blog thing, and that's simply because it's dummed down enough that a drunk monkey on anabolic steroids could do it. Okay, maybe not the steroids, but my base point stands. I may be intelligent. I may be able to figure things out, and put things together in certain ways, but technology is simply beyond my ken. Give me a potter's wheel any day. That I get.

Now, one may be wondering what brought all this on. Well... I went to a small town today for an Independence day parade with someone we shall call Sparky. Sparky's great, by the way, great guy. But while we were there (ironically, we missed the parade, but it was a great trip anyway) we were walking around town and passed a vintage book store. I had no real intention of going in, but there was a pile of one dollar books for sale outside the store, and one caught my eye, which Sparky was rather excited about as well. It is Arthur C. Clarke's July 20, 2019. A book of "historical speculation" published in 1986, the year I was born (so if you want to know my age, just do the math). While incorrect on a few things thus far (and seemingly not on the way over the next 9 years based on current trends), he was surprisingly accurate on a number of things, often enough on the time frame as well. Money estimates are of course off, but inflation and the economy are hard to predict over the short term, much less 33 years in the future. While we mostly just skimmed through the book rather than in depth reading as of yet, it was quite impressive, and very amusing. Most of the social advances he mentioned, though, have not come to pass, and are hard to conceive of such radical changes over the next decade. But, seemingly, rather good ideas nonetheless.

Anyhow, that has no real bearing on the subject at hand other than inspiration, and (I admit) a desire to talk about Sparky a bit. And, I will finally address the title of this post. If you're curious and don't get it, "mal" is from the romantic languages.