Howard G. Cunningham is an American programmer who created the first wiki, those Internet platforms where whenever someone has something to tell, they come in and selflessly collaborates. This author formulated the law named after himself which claims: “The best way to obtain the right answer on the Internet is not by asking, but by offering the wrong answer”.
With this statement, Cunningham highlights the predisposition of the Net users to show others up. It turns out to be more stimulating amplifying someone else´s mistakes than solving a doubt hopelessly. This attitude is evil, since not only is it limited to show some intellectual superiority, but it also pushes aside the ignorant, rejects it to make it clear we have nothing to do with the ignorant.
Though there is no agreement to that, it is estimated that almost two million years ago the human being started to talk. Oral language was preceded by gestures and guttural sounds in the sound of grunts which tried to shape what surrounded us. Having effective verbal communication by means of a shared code meant an important boost for the evolution which had started some time before. In that moment, the members of the primitive societies split into two groups, those who had the questions and those who had the answers.
The arrival of writing in the upper Neolithic diminished the wise individual´s value, since the printed register of knowledge bound together the answers a restless mind demanded. Since the Sumerian clay tablets, until today´s digitalisation of knowledge, 8,000 years of evolution have passed, which in evolution terms is not even a mere anecdote. Indeed, all technological breakthroughs which have happened all this time to preserve knowledge, both before and after Gutenberg, have created an unattainable repository of answers to turn to when we are looking for the truth.
In his tale “La biblioteca de Babel”, Borges speaks about an almost infinite space which comprises all possible books. All known knowledge throughout thousands of years is there, disordered, according to the author, yet complete.
Today´s knowledge has been socialised, it is not exclusive of the political, religious or scholar classes: it belongs and is available to everyone. Information, far from being as powerful as it used to be.
The Internet is today that library the Argentinean writer once imagined in 1941, a meaningful space that grows bigger and bigger and turns into a limitless universe. Every time some knowledge is sent into that space, it is settle down and awaits to be claimed in the form of question by someone eager to know more.
Today´s knowledge has been socialised, it is not exclusive of the political, religious or scholar classes: it belongs and is available to everyone. Information, far from being as powerful as it used to be, it part of the wind now, like Dylan once sang.
Nevertheless, this such especial resource, which would cause Leonardo himself suffer from the Stendhal´s syndrome if he knew its existence, is also some hidden, unexplored and unknown ground. The main part of the Internet is like the interstate highway crossing the American Midwest where nothing happens. The knowledge that builds up in those forgotten virtual spots represents the author´s unpublished work which is left in a drawer, unleashed, unshown, adding no value to anyone whatsoever.
The unattained knowledge is so because there is no means to make it visible. The neglected knowledge is so because nobody claims it.
Trying to reach all corners of the Internet, more than an utopia, it is a crankiness. The problem is not the speed new content is being added to the already vast catalogue, but the acceleration, that is, how the available resources are exponentially increased.
Back to Borges, the Internet may become a place where everything is available, but nothing can be found.
The traditional educational model has always been aimed to teach how to answer, never ask. We ask our children so that they can show their background knowledge: Who discovered America? What’s ´s the capital of Italy? Is an ant a vertebrate? As we answer correctly, we assume we are better educated and, somehow, better prepared to tackle future challenges.
This is the most troublesome aspect of our current model, the fact that we give more value to answers rather than to questions. Does it make any sense memorising what we can get with just one click? As we behold this immeasurable view, how do we establish what is useful and what is not?
A few weeks ago Google showed the 2018 top searches on their servers. In Spain, the main ones were referred to sport (the World Cup was held), celebrities or TV programmes under the category of reality. It is remarkable the most common question that year was: “What is a cachopo (Northern Spain typical meal)?”. That is, we are in front of the most massive source of information in the entire history of humanity and we rather ask ourselves about the cuisine from Asturias.
Last Christmas I was given a smart loudspeaker, one Alexa. As you probably know, this type of devices based on artificial intelligence interact with users with absolute ease, as you do with another person. But when you are in front of Alexa, questions do not always come up fluently, despite knowing the answer we are looking for is there. In such situation, when we hesitate, Amazon, Alexa´s owner, periodically sends a list of questions they might make. Some of them are as challenging as being told a joke, knowing whether Alexa has a boyfriend or if she likes pizza.
The importance of learning to ask is even greater with such devices since, unlike Google, they only offer one answer, the one the software chooses.
On the TV programme First Dates, a couple has just met with the intention of starting a serious and lasting love relationship. It seems disheartening two people who expect to spend the rest of their lives together, end up their conversation after a few minutes. He who has nothing to ask admonishes the other to do so: “What else do you want to know?”, “I don´t know, tell me”. That is the end of everything.
Therefore, when asking AI a query we get an answer, with the cognitive computing, the AI next step, without making any question we will get the answer.
A today´s new born has their genetic base a lot more improved than their ancestors, well documented universal knowledge and an educational model which orders and prioritises its learning. We realise the youngsters are not taught any longer contents we did learn the older ones. The education period is limited and more and more complex, if not impossible, to get access to all the necessary knowledge, hence machines will become more and more indispensable.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) behind Alexa is depositary of the answers; tomorrow, she will keep the questions as well. Therefore, when asking AI a query we get an answer, with the cognitive computing, the AI next step, without making any question we will get the answer.
In the next few years we will live the constant integration of machines with humans. The challenge to come, and be sure it will come, will be the complete and permanent connection between the human brain and the virtual one. In that moment, we will have access to all universal knowledge just with the will to find anything out. What is a cachopo? Let´s think about it. Then our brain will be stimulated to perceive, in neuroelectrical terms, two veal steaks with cheese and ham inside, and we may even be able to taste it as well.
My granddad called the television the “silly box”. It still to be seen whether we will be the silly resource of this new way of thinking.
I have recently published a book titled “Actitud Digital. Claves psicológicas para sobrevivir a una nueva era” where I tackle how we should evolve along with technology. The artificial systems build up their answers database should be a wake-up call for us to build up our questions database. If you are interested in knowing more about how getting ourselves and our children ready for the probable hegemony of the machines, look for this title on Amazon.
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