Always pick the person
By Edward Willis (http://encw.xyz)
Published Feb/2/2023

More and more often in our day to day lives we are forced to make a choice
between automated systems and people. I implore you: always pick the person.

If we do not choose to interact with a person, then eventually we will not have
that choice. We'll be forced to interact with a machine.

There are cases when you simply need a real person to rectify a problem.

What's more, we human beings are social creatures. Do we really want to be
forced to spend our lives interacting with cold, unfeeling machines?

Retail clerks are being replaced with self-checkout machines, like bank tellers
before them were replaced by ATMs.

Many other jobs formerly done by people are being replaced by smartphone
applications (forcing you to buy devices with specific operating systems,
locking everyone into a Big Tech duopoly).

And now there is AI like ChatGPT. ChatGPT has the power to replace human
writers. There is AI for imagery as well to replace artists. Do we really want
the content we consume to be generated by machine rather than by human minds? Do
we want our culture and society defined not by us collectively, but by
artificial intelligence?

Then there are the sex robots on the horizon. Replacing intimate, human
affection with an AI powered simile. Humans will become further isolated from
each other.

There is something we can do: we can refuse to be a part of it. We can vote with
our participation and our money. Again, I implore you, whenever you have any
choice in the matter, always pick the person.

When you go to the store, go through the manned checkout line. Call the pizza
place to order rather than use the app. Go to the bank, and go inside when you
get there. Don't go to restaurants which replace staff with koisks. Consume
content created by real people, and demand that AI generated content is labeled.
And of course, one for the future: don't have sex with robots -- look for real
love.

We have the power to opt-out of the dystopian plans of the techno-futurists.