I've been meaning to ask...

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How often do you ask things, anymore? I don't mean subjective things like "do you like tomatoes?" or "what time are you arriving?", because those are a different kind of question, aren't they? Yes, they're informative, but they also force you to ask them. It's not like you can look it up online - or even more mortifying, in an encyclopedia - because how could the Internet know whether or not this other person likes tomatoes?

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No. What I mean is, do you ask questions that everyone should know? Because I feel we've lost that habit. It stands to reason that before the Internet, or even before smart devices, one had to ask things. Stupid, banal, pointless things. For instance, one thing I've been puzzling over is what's the name of the director of Last Tango in Paris? Don't tell me. Unless you know. Without looking it up. Because I know I could look it up, but want it to either come to me, or ask someone out loud, like people used to. Before we had a whole world of answers at our fingertips.

Who's the guy who's not Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump?

What's the capital of Albania?

Now, these are non-questions, to be settled in solitary confinement, in a matter of seconds. Except that takes away from human interaction. Because then you don't get to have that sweet oh my God, thank you for telling me, I've been trying to remember for days moment. Or the one where the other person doesn't know either, and suddenly, just for a little bit, you feel that much closer with the person, sharing in your mutual ignorance.

It's precisely these shared memories that bind us together. For instance, I can ask someone of my generation what was the name of the villain in the Powerpuff Girls, and they'll think about it, and maybe they'll remember, and we'll share a moment of man, weren't those the days. Or I could look it up on my phone, only my phone doesn't remember those days, and doesn't much care.

Or at least, not yet.

We're always talking about what the next technological advancement will be. And honestly, I think it's that one. Now, they've made amazing progress in building AIs that are actually, you know, intelligent, and that can carry a researched "intelligent" conversation. But not an empathic one, or at least I don't think.
But maybe we'll get to that. Maybe one day, I'll be able to ask my phone about the Powerpuff guy, and my phone will go man, I grew up on that shit, and I'll remember how I grew up on that, also, and it will all be...

...awful.

I think it's scary to trade these little bits of connection away so easily, which is why I'm throwing in my own two cents' worth. I've started to ask things, or try to remember them myself. Because what if we end up forgetting it all one day? And what if the next day, all the computers shut down, coordinated and irreversible?



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3 comments
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We've already outsourced the parts of our brains that remember facts and figures. Can outsourcing the social interactions be far behind? We already talk to Siri and Alexa like they're real people.

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From one human to another: The capital of Albania is Tirana.

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