The TikTok Addition: Has a Fortune Magazine Editor Been Up Swiping?
June 2, 2023
![Vea4_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_t[1]_thumb](http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Vea4_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_t1_thumb-16.gif "Vea4_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_t[1]_thumb")
Note: This essay is the work of a real and still-alive dinobaby. No smart software involved, just a dumb humanoid.
A colleague called my attention to the Fortune Magazine article boldly titled “Gen Z Teens Are So Unruly in Malls, Fed by Their TikTok Addition, That a Growing Number Are requiring Chaperones and Supervision.” A few items I noted in this headline:
- Malls. I thought those were dead horses. There is a YouTube channel devoted to these real estate gems; for example, Urbex Offlimits and a creator named Brandon Moretti’s videos.
- Gen Z. I just looked up how old Gen Zs are. According to Mental Floss, these denizens of empty spaces are 11 to 26 years old. Hmmm. For what purpose are 21 to 25 year olds hanging out in empty malls? (Could that be a story for Fortune?)
- The “TikTok addition” gaffe. My spelling checker helps me out too. But I learned from a super-duper former Fortune writer whom I shall label Peter V, “Fortune is meticulous about its thorough research, its fact checking, and its proofreading.” Well, super-duper Peter, not in 2023. Please, explain in 25 words of less this image from the write up:
I did notice several factoids and comments in the write up; to wit:
Interesting item one:
“On Friday and Saturdays, it’s just been a madhouse,” she said on a recent Friday night while shopping for Mother’s Day gifts with Jorden and her 4-month-old daughter.
A madhouse is, according to the Cambridge dictionary is “a place of great disorder and confusion.” I think of malls as places of no people. But Fortune does the great fact checking, according to the attestation of Peter V.
Interesting item two:
Even a Chik-fil-A franchise in southeast Pennsylvania caused a stir with its social media post earlier this year that announced its policy of banning kids under 16 without an adult chaperone, citing unruly behavior.
I thought Chik-fil-A was a saintly, reserved institution with restaurants emulating Medieval monasteries. No longer. No wonder so many cars line up for a chickwich.
Interesting item three:
Cohen [a mall expert] said the restrictions will help boost spending among adults who must now accompany kids but they will also likely reduce the number of trips by teens, so the overall financial impact is unclear.
What these snippets tell me is that there is precious little factual data in the write up. The headline leading “TikTok addiction” is not the guts of the write up. Maybe the idea that kids who can’t go to the mall will play online games? I think it is more likely that kids and those lost little 21 to 25 year olds will find other interesting things to do with their time.
But malls? Kids can prowl Snapchat and TikTok, but those 21 to 25 year olds? Drink or other chemical activities?
Hey, Fortune, let’s get addicted to the Peter V. baloney: “Fortune is meticulous about its thorough research, its fact checking, and its proofreading.”
Stephen E Arnold, June 2, 2023
The Prospects for Prompt Engineers: English Majors, Rejoice
June 2, 2023
I noted some good news for English majors. I suppose some history and political science types may be twitching with constrained jubilation too.
Navigate to “9 in 10 Companies That Are Currently Hiring Want Workers with ChatGPT Experience.” The write up contains quite a number of factoids. (Are these statistically valid? I believe everything I read on the Internet with statistical data, don’t you.) Well, true or not, I found these statements interesting:
- 91 percent of the companies in a human resourcey survey want workers with ChatGPT experience. What does “experience” mean? The write up does not deign to elucidate. The question about how to optimize phishing email counts.
- 75 percent of those surveyed will fire people who are declared redundant, annoying, or too expensive to pay.
- 30 percent of those in the sample say that hiring a humanoid with ChatGPT experience is “urgent.” Why not root around in the reason for this urgency? Oh, right. That’s research work.
- 66 percent of the respondents perceive that ChatGPT will deliver a “competitive edge.” What about the link to cost reduction? Oh, I forgot. That’s additional research work.
What work functions will get to say, “Hello” to smart software? The report summary identifies six job categories:
- Software engineering
- Customer service
- Human resources
- Marketing
- Data entry
- Sale
- Finance
For parents with a 22 to 40 year old working in one of these jobs, my suggestion is to get that spare bedroom ready. The progeny may return to the nest.
Stephen E Arnold, June 2, 2023
The Intellectual Titanic and Sister Ships at Sea: Ethical Ballast and Flawed GPS Aboard
June 1, 2023
![Vea4_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_t[1]](http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Vea4_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_t1-14.gif "Vea4_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_t[1]")
Note: This essay is the work of a real and still-alive dinobaby. No smart software involved, just a dumb humanoid.
I read “Researchers Retract Over 300 COVID-Era Medical Papers For Scientific Errors, Ethical Concerns.” I ignored the information about the papers allegedly hand crafted with cow outputs. I did note this statement, however:
Gunnveig Grødeland, a senior researcher at the Institute of Immunology at the University of Oslo, said many withdrawn papers during COVID-19 have been the result of ethical shortcomings.
Interesting. I recall hearing that the president of a big time university in Palo Alto was into techno sci-fi paper writing. I also think that the estimable Jeffrey Epstein affiliated MIT published some super positive information about the new IBM smart WatsonX. (Doesn’t IBM invest big bucks in MIT?) I have also memory tickles about inventors and entrepreneurs begging to be regulated.
Bad, distorted values chase kids the Lane of Life. Imagine. These young people and their sense of right and wrong will be trampled by darker motives. Image produced by MidJourney, of course.
What this write up about peer reviewed and allegedly scholarly paper says to me is that ethical research and mental gyroscopes no longer align with what I think of as the common good.
Academics lie. Business executives lie. Entrepreneurs lie. Now what’s that mean for the quaint idea that individuals can be trusted? I can hear the response now:
Senator, thank you, for that question. I will provide the information you desire after this hearing.
I suppose one can look forward to made up information as the increasingly lame smart software marketing demonstrations thrill the uninformed.
Is it possible for flawed ethical concepts and out of kilter moral GPS system to terminate certain types of behavior?
Here’s the answer: Sure looks like it. That’s an interesting gain of function.
Stephen E Arnold, June 1, 2023
Does Jugalbandi Mean De-casting?
June 1, 2023
![Vea4_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_t[1]](http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Vea4_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_t1-13.gif "Vea4_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_t[1]")
Note: This essay is the work of a real and still-alive dinobaby. No smart software involved, just a dumb humanoid.
I read “Microsoft Launches Jugalbandi: An AI Powered Platform and Chatbot to Bridge Information Gap in India.” India connotes for me spicy food and the caste system. My understanding of this term comes from Wikipedia which says:
The caste system in India is the The caste system in India is the paradigmatic ethnographic instance of social classification based on castes. It has its origins in ancient India, and was transformed by various ruling elites in medieval, early-modern, and modern India, especially the Mughal Empire and the British Raj.
Like me, the Wikipedia can be incorrect, one-sided, and PR-ish.
The Jugalbandi write up contains some interesting statements which I interpret against my understanding of the Wikipedia article about castes in India. Here’s one example:
Microsoft, a pioneer in the artificial intelligence (AI) field, has made significant strides with its latest venture, Jugalbandi. This generative AI-driven platform and chatbot aim to revolutionize access to information about government initiatives and public programs in India. With nearly 22 official languages and considerable linguistic variations in the country, Jugalbandi seeks to address the challenges in disseminating information effectively.
I wonder if Microsoft’s pioneering smart software (based largely upon the less than open and often confused OpenAI technology) will do much to “address the challenges in disseminating information effectively.”
Wikipedia points out:
In 1948, negative discrimination on the basis of caste was banned by law and further enshrined in the Indian constitution in 1950; however, the system continues to be practiced in parts of India. There are 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes in India, each related to a specific occupation.
If law and every day behavior have not mitigated castes and how these form fences in India and India outposts in London and Silicon Valley, exactly what will Microsoft (the pioneer in AI) accomplish?
My hunch the write up enshrines:
- The image of Microsoft as the champion of knocking down barriers and allowing communication to flow. (Why does smart Bing block certain queries?)
- Microsoft’s self-professed role as a “pioneer” in smart software. I think a pioneer in clever Davos messaging is closer to the truth.
- The OnMSFT.com’s word salad about something that may be quite difficult to accomplish in many social, business, and cultural settings.
Who created the concept of untouchables?
Stephen E Arnold, June 1, 2023
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