Culture

Editorial – February 2025: Honesty On The Net.

Honesty On The Net

or

A Global Village With The Idiots In Charge.

Hello everyone,

There are two types of information available on the Internet: truth and lies. They all fit into the first two categories, if truth be told. It’s only the Internet that says there are more, so why should we trust it?

About the only one acceptable is white lies being used only if it’s used to prevent someone’s feelings from being hurt for a time, although that, you would think, won’t be long on the Net. Online identity concealment is incredibly simple, enabling individuals to engage in abusive behaviour with the confidence that their actions may remain unnoticed. When everyone had access to the Internet, precautions should have been taken, and that door is harder to close but not impossible if servers strengthen their access. After all, the accuracy of bank details is crucial for matching them to a person’s identity. That leaves a trail. This is particularly true for those who lack access to the dark net.

Even so, hearing that scans to confirm truthful accuracy in social media are to be stopped is likely to make the Net even more chaotic. I don’t need to specify which individuals are involved, as I suspect others will follow suit. If nothing else, it’s a demonstration of money over honesty. So much for integrity. It’s now a global village with the idiots in charge. With so many people using the Internet as their only source of information and AI tailoring choices to individuals, humans really are living in their own microcosms. If your students receive incorrect information or, worse, no information at all, you wouldn’t trust it as an educational tool. Considering how many people out there believe the Earth is flat and the Net isn’t at least conveying to them the right information, assuming they use it, how much else misinformation is out there right now? Alien invaders wouldn’t need to come in with guns blazing, just feed a few lies into the Internet.

Really, all servers should have an accuracy dial as to how much you should trust the information you look at and certainly links to confirm such information as being trusted and direct users to check reliable information. This should be a selling point for any server to keep your trade because it’s not in a company’s self-interest. You want more honesty, not less.

Geoff Truth and Lies

Today, the so-called AI is tailoring ads and information to what you want rather than the right information because it doesn’t know better. If I believed what I’m seeing on MSN right now, I would only look on eBay. Really?! It’s what the AI advertising has been told to look at for me—more than all the other places I look—simply because its owners are paid for it to do things that way. I bet even the owners don’t monitor what their work does.

One advantage of being a writer from pre-Internet is that I learnt how to research a variety of subjects and have a core knowledge that can distinguish between what is accurate and inaccurate, so I tend to question everything and have a feeling when something isn’t right or even exaggerated rather than accept whatever is shown to me. Searching for a photo reference on Google reveals how inaccurate it can be, and this is true for any subject you look up, as the search engine is unable to distinguish between accuracy and exaggeration.

Of course, I also don’t use social media, but its current problems, especially when associated with removing its accuracy software, show I’m less likely to be caught by an old-fashioned magic trick. You have a distraction, i.e., communicating with your ‘friends’ and the near-subliminal adverts linking to your taste, which is far more insidious than even TV adverts. The next generation is going to end up less likely to question anything they see online, and we’re going to end up with a version of a ‘Doctor Who’ reality when people won’t even realise they are being controlled.

Big Brother is not only controlling your life, but you’ll be willing to let it. Don’t you find that a bit scary, let alone who is controlling from the top? No wonder Bill Gates limited his kids time on the Net when young. Everything, especially the Internet, needs a balanced time in its use.

The thing is, it’s taught us we can contact or leave messages for anyone within minutes and, in places like social media, get a reply back just as fast as many people feel compelled to do so. Consequently, people are not learning to be patient. The only reason I tend to reply to most of my emails daily is because I get a hundred or so a day, and times in the hospital and coming home taught me to keep up. I have no expectations for those replying other than deadlines. Do you want to face a nervous breakdown from not keeping up or others not keeping up if you’re in a loop? I doubt the Internet will reveal such information. Companies want you to always be there. Your constant presence makes you an ideal target for companies to display their advertisements. You might not even let them register and just pay attention to what you want to read, but your eye will still absorb them, whether you act on them or buy them. It might not be subliminal, but repetitive looks and sound-worm slogans would never stick in your head, let alone pictures.

It must reach a point where you realise alternative offline life is possible. Bill Gates had the right idea in having everything in moderation.

We’re also in danger, and certainly the younger generations are letting low-level AIs make decisions as to what you watch and that odd word ‘trending,’ saying a lot of people are doing such an action. All that really means is a set number of people are watching the same thing, and, as noted above, that can easily be fabricated by an AI advertising a particular product and getting a set number of people who will look at anything. It doesn’t mean it would be true for everyone, or you are adding to that number. In the old days, we would call that sucker bait. It makes TV advertising look tame in comparison. I mean, do you baulk at the price of a floor cleaner or think it’s a neat advert and move on? Since my time in retail when I was a youngster, companies tend to be more interested in unit sales than in how much that means in money.

If nothing else, unless we want future generations just willing to do whatever their social media guides them to think, we need to educate them in being able to make their own minds up and knowing what is real, fake, and put upon them. Companies and their artificial intelligence (AI) systems are already adept at manipulating human minds to conform to their desires. Why make it easy for them when you can think for yourself?

Thank you, take care, a wonderful night, and here’s to free thinking.

Geoff Willmetts

editor: www.SFCrowsnest.info

A Zen thought: You can’t make up one for yourself this month?

What Qualities Does A Geek Have: Having a free-thinking mindset is crucial, so it’s important to remain open-minded and resist manipulation.

The Reveal: There’s always someone better than yourself. It’s rather worrying that I haven’t bumped into him/her yet.

Observation: I want you to think for yourself this month. Pick an inaccurate hole in anything to show you can still think for yourself.

Observation: For those who want to know, my right lower arm is healing. I have about 80% rotation. Regrettably, I require the remaining 10% to grasp a spoon and eat.

Feeling Stressed: Spend some time off the Net.

Submissions: #

                        If you think having free books to review isn’t enough, how about reading them months ahead of everyone? I mean real months. This method surpasses the effectiveness of a time machine.

I did think that having a lot of text about submitting material to SFCrowsnest would attract those with a compulsion to read and understand things the geek way. The main problem with the Internet is that it tends to encourage less reading, so it’s time to take a different approach. We will retain the original notes from the July 2009 editorial, even though the links may not function properly.

Please include a brief introduction in your cover email to help me understand you better. The boss in the tower, also called Stephen Hunt, describes me as a ‘Dutch Uncle’ in that I’m helpful with advice and can explain when I see something that is wrong. You should leave your egos at the door, as my sole focus is on your talent and how to enhance it.

Reviews:

I always welcome new reviewers, and if you’re eager to learn, you’ll quickly grasp the process even if you’ve never done it before. However, you’ll need to provide a sample, particularly if you can adhere to my guidelines. In the UK, we can get paper books, but abroad, you may have to use ebooks. If you’ve picked a book we haven’t reviewed, then it stands a better chance of being used, so use the SFC search engine to see first, but I need to see how you would write for us.

The obvious qualification is a desire to read regularly, and I like to tell others about the book without giving away too many spoilers. The benefit is access to free books for the price of a review.

I want to give you the opportunity to get things right, so look up the Review Guidelines link: https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/so-you-want-to-write-reviews-for-sfcrowsnest-what-you-need-to-know-by-geoff-willmetts/.

Fiction:

Although we can’t pay for submissions, what we do make up for is exposure. Only the Sci-Fi Channel gets more hits than us, so it’s worthwhile getting us on your writer’s CV. Please avoid samplings from books you might be writing or have had in print elsewhere, as I do check. New original work is best, and whether I accept or reject, you will be told of any problems I see so you look your best and a grammar check that is equal to the pro world. Even the boss finds me scarily accurate.

Flash or One-Page Fiction:

It speaks for itself. Writing the shortest fiction possible is also the most challenging because every word counts.

Link here for details: https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/one-page-stories-or-flash-fiction-submissions-instructions-by-gf-willmetts/

Short Stories:

The definition of a short story is anything up to 30 pages, and then it becomes a novella. Bear in mind you want other people to read it online; stay somewhere between 5–20 pages. At least when submitting it digitally, you don’t need to use double-spacing, as HTML will automatically handle this for you. However, consider being concise. If you want to send an attachment with these, then ask first and send it as a TXT file, as it removes most tetchy virus codes.

Look up the Short Stories Link by linking here: https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/so-you-really-want-to-write-an-sf-story-an-update-by-gf-willmetts/.

Finally:

The worst problem I see in any samples is poor grammar. Although I don’t want you to think I’m perfect, the less work I have, the easier it is to focus on your other issues. It will also be beneficial if you ever approach paper-based publishers, as they will reject any poor grammar samples due to time constraints.

Good grammar is the tool of any writer. Don’t just depend on what you remember doing at school. There are plenty of decent grammar books out there, so remind yourself of the rules. If you find the number of rules overwhelming, master the primary ones before progressing to the next, ensuring it becomes a habitual practice.

This link, www.sfcrowsnest.info/the-guide-to-better-grammar-from-the-harrowed-hand-of-gf-willmetts/, will show you the common problems.

To submit, use our email address by joining the spaces, as shown here: letters@SFcrowsnest.info, and use the subject matter as to what you’re submitting.

If you have any pastimes that can be used to pass the time in captivity, let me know, and we’ll see if it can be turned into an article.

Comments directly to reviews should still work as before.

Good luck.

Geoff

 

UncleGeoff

Geoff Willmetts has been editor at SFCrowsnest for some 21 plus years now, showing a versatility and knowledge in not only Science Fiction, but also the sciences and arts, all of which has been displayed here through editorials, reviews, articles and stories. With the latter, he has been running a short story series under the title of ‘Psi-Kicks’ If you want to contribute to SFCrowsnest, read the guidelines and show him what you can do. If it isn’t usable, he spends as much time telling you what the problems is as he would with material he accepts. This is largely how he got called an Uncle, as in Dutch Uncle. He’s not actually Dutch but hails from the west country in the UK.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.