Feeling overwhelmed?

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

Universally, people seem to be overwhelmed today. And that doesn’t seem to be a feeling exclusively belonging to folks who live in urban settings.  

Everyone, everywhere, is being assaulted with information and that information is requiring decisions every way they turn.

I happened to be looking at the Apple Watch on my left wrist and thought of a question which I asked ChatGPT.  

By the way, this last sentence above is loaded with irony and the conditions we find overwhelming us in the country today.

Here is the question I asked: How does today’s Apple Watch compare to all the computing power on earth before 1970?

One (only one) Apple Watch of today has 50,000 times more computing power than all the computers combined that existed before 1970.

ChatGPT gave me a bonus answer, too. One Apple Watch today is 100,000 times faster and has 50,000 times the memory of the Apollo Guidance Computer that put men on the moon in 1969.

At this point I have to pause, catch my breath, and highly recommend a movie called “The Dish” that came out in 2000 and is about the moon landing in 1969. It is a great movie about a true story.

Now, back to today. With all the computing power we have now, there are many, many ways to assault you with the plea, “Look at me” (including this column).

Despite all the computing power, it is up to you as an individual to police to what you listen and watch. That includes (ahem!) this column. As a writer, I feel the burden of doing my very best to write material that is interesting, of good content, and perhaps, entertaining.  

Many of the daily assaults thrown at you do so without ethics. Their objective is solely to induce you to make a decision that benefits them, usually financially. They are loud, persuasive and often borderline ethical. Many are immoral.

Now, with Artificial Intelligence joining the arsenal, the assault will become even more diabolical. Hence, it is more important than ever that we teach our children ethics and morality. More than that, we must teach them the clever ways that are used to persuade them to make poor decisions.  

This is the challenge of today.

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.

••••Publisher's note: Mr. Thompson's columns are brought to our readers free of charge – just like our most popular website. Thanks for reading.