OK, fellas, gather around. We are approaching Code Red on the Social Media Reality Scale. Almost everything you see on social media is fake. Photos are fake, video is fake – nearly everything is either fake or the captions are phony. They either don’t accurately describe the photo or when and where the photo was taken. Even the spelling is lousy.
As an example, check out any batch of crapola on Facebook and Instagram. Almost nothing you see is legit. Not only is the “news” fake, so are items about movie stars, cars, dogs, cats, elephants and country singers.
Seriously, social media has gone from dodgy to being a virtual wasteland.
I just was looking at Instagram. Out of the top ten posts, eight were phony. There was a guy complaining about a newspaper. He wasn’t identified, and the time and place were not noted. The sound wasn’t even synchronized with the video. Must be fake.
Next up was “political” merchandise with overweight models and incorrect links to the online store. Must be fake.
Then there were many photos of recent political events, all of which were Photoshopped. I know a little about Photoshop, because I use it all day. It’s easy to use and to fake photos. I can show you how to do it in a few minutes.
Then there’s artificial intelligence. I was experimenting with it and found it to be approximately worthless. I asked one of the several AI applications to research some information for me. It told me that to find that information I needed to contact several websites and I might be able to find it there.
Thanks, Captain Obvious.
Then I asked AI to organize some information. It couldn’t do it, even though I do it myself every week. Maybe AI is short for Artificial Incompetence.
Every so often something new comes along in the world of computers. I remember when the first computer landed on my desk. It took forever to learn how to use it, and often didn’t work correctly. I should have just taken my typewriter and run for cover.
In a former job, one of my chores was putting together the weekly television schedules for the local and cable TV stations. It took four hours. Ugh. I could have done it in less than an hour by cutting and pasting them together and giving them to a (human) typesetter.
Yet, we were all told that computers were work-savers.
Right, and I’m Steve Jobs.
We as a society have been sold a bill of goods not only with Artificial Intelligence but with computers in general.
I have a friend who used to work for a large company. It installed a new system that handled payroll. When pay day rolled around, some employees received checks for tiny amounts. One professional employee got a paycheck for 34 cents. None of the amounts were correct on hundreds of checks. It got so bad that folks were sent to local banks to get bags of money and employees were paid in cash.
And here’s the kicker. After more than a year, the payroll system is better, but still not 100% correct.
Yep, Code Red is here. My advice is to unplug your computer and allow yourself to return to sanity. That’s the only defense to against unsocial media and artificial incompetence.
Carl Sampson is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in Stayton. Any mistakes in this column were made by his computer.
