The Grand Delusion

 

Welcome to The Grand Delusion.

If you have used an AI-generated browser lately, such as Microsoft’s Bing, you may have noticed that-- no matter the topic—left of center cites show up almost exclusively, especially on the first several pages of results. These browsers appear to be more biased than ever before, which is saying something. A New York Post or Fox News listing may show up on, say, page 4 or 5, but typically only after a user is made to wade through those of a slew of liberal to far-left sites.

Looking for something on the Israel-Hamas war? Get ready to see a cavalcade of posts from NPR, CNN, and MSNBC. Wish to do a little research on global warming? Your search results will be heavily skewed to NPR, CNN, and MSNBC again—but will also direct you to posts from preposterously radical leftist sites such as Salon, Alternet, Slate, Huffington Post, and The Daily Beast.

Though most folks aren’t talking about this, it has obvious and far-reaching implications for…everything. If it becomes harder and harder for most people to access less biased sites, or even to check out sites tilted to the right for balance, eventually the truth will be lost. At some point in the future then, virtually all knowledge that the vast majority of people possess will be false knowledge. And that is, in a word, scary.

We have already seen what can happen when giant social media companies—of their own volition or under pressure by government entities—hide or manipulate information to favor a certain candidate or point of view. This is likely to get exponentially worse.

I recently typed “how does wisdom differ from intelligence” into a Microsoft browser. Here is the Bing AI-generated response I received: Wisdom and intelligence are both positive qualities involving the mind, but they are not the same. Intelligence refers to a person’s ability to learn, understand, and apply knowledge and skills. In contrast, wisdom refers to using knowledge and experience to make good decisions and judgments. Intelligence is largely innate and can be measured through tests, while wisdom is gained through life experiences and is not easily measurable. Wisdom involves seeking truth, using knowledge, and making good decisions.  

  

People, of course, base their actions and decisions on the information they have. Whoever controls that information effectively controls the world. “Learning” from sources that promulgate fake news does not lead to intelligence.

Let’s pray that most folks are granted the wisdom to seek the truth. No matter how hard it may become to do so.