Computers Do Not Understand Lying

Nobody asked but …

The computer is incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid. Man is unbelievably slow, inaccurate, and brilliant. The marriage of the two is a force beyond calculation.

Leo Cherne

The problem is that computers cannot avoid a lie.  They process facts and factoids, without distinction, in an incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid manner.  Are they speedy?  Oh yeah.  Are they accurate?  They are accurate with 100% fidelity to the original content (whether true or false).  Are they stupid?  They only do one thing — set single switches to “on” or “off,” as instructed, never asking “why?”

Computers have no capability of filtering good from bad, in an ethical sense.  Content creators, on the other hand, can lie copiously, knowingly or not.  Content creators are the complete set of all human beings, and some human beings will lie.

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” said Mark Twain.  Furthermore, there are an infinite number of lies for every truth.  It makes no difference, however, because the computer is totally incapable of telling or conveying the truth.

— Kilgore Forelle

 

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