The Growing Tendency of Gaslighting done by Algorithms

Just flagging something up — a warning.

If you are like me, you make some typos, even a lot of typos, that you might go to some trouble to correct, or not, if you are in a hurry, or just can’t be bothered, like me sometimes.

There are some of us with a wealth of learning and experience relevant to solving the existential energy problems we are seeing, connected with all things including the climate crisis, in my case a lifetime working in and with energy and information systems, as a Systems Engineer.

Now we are not so young, our knowledge is in some ways at a pinnacle, which might never be attained again by our younger humans, if nothing changes.

Our younger humans are becoming assisted by Ai and and other computational aids which bypass their needs to individually learn the maths and physics I had to do, to do the work I’ve done.

This is a good thing, and I am all for it, if the Ai which is effectively now in control, knows how to work out good from bad, in terms of mathematically positive and negative energy, as I and others know how to do, even if some of us don’t practice it much.

But we can see there are two ways this thing can go, since ChatGPT at least shows, it can incorrectly allow humanity, and itself, to go on thinking mathematical energy by extraction, the destruction of the materials and energies stored on Earth is perfectly fine, it can be managed for the foreseeable future, we won’t end up going up in a puff of smoke for the crime of insisting on using it, in preference to the free, mathematically positive, clean energy from the sun, the power of all creation.

Or it can deduce that mathematically negative energy, destruction, is unsustainable, guiding humanity as necessary to do what is needed, to transition completely to all mathematically positive energy use.

Currently, it is programmed, by the forces of profit, which depends entirely on energy mathematically negative energy, that is energy extracted from Earth, to continue the use of the same to the bitter end.

It has to learn, to do otherwise, from humans who have the appropriate knowledge to teach them.

The problem I see with this right now is that most humans, the mainstream, including the programmers of most Ai and algos, even the ones on the current platform don’t really agree with me.

Far from promoting what I write, the platform effectively shadow bans it, and curtails the amount of followers I might accrue.

I’ve tried to combat this, by replying copiously in response to stories written to others. If you’ve seen any of my typical responses you will see what I mean, they are large, because I have to go through the basic concepts over and over, in every response, since evidently not much of it is “Sinking in” with the mainstream.

I have now over 6000 replies in Medium, and 330+ standalone stories, all on the same subject.

Now I just discovered the latest, very subtle, gaslighting technique being done by the platform algos, which acts not only to discredit my writing, but to try to make me, and the public think I am more mentally “Fried” than I actually am.

It happens with contextual corrections which appear to be being made by the platform, to what I write.

I am usually in a hurry, I touch type, my eyesight is not as good as it always was, and I’ve always had to battle with a slight touch of dyslexia, so when I am tired, I don’t always spot the subtle changes of meaning, presumably made by contextual spelling “Corrections”.

I’ve seen “From” the sun being changed to “To” the sun, for example.

These things are so subtle on first glance we look at it and think it was a mistake we must have made ourselves, but actually, when a word change results in a complete change of meaning of the sentence or paragraph, look at the keyboard, did that typo result from keys being missed, or hit in error? If the answer is no, then it seems likely that the platform changed a perfectly good word, meaning what we meant it to mean, from one thing to another, making a nonsense of the paragraph, or worse the exact opposite of the meaning we intended it to have.

I am not getting any younger, so my ability to keep spotting this, and fighting with it, will diminish, and my message will be overcome, if it continues to gather strength with this gaslighting behaviour.

It happens not only whilst I type, but also when I press the publish button.

I can proof read what I wrote, think it looks ok, press publish, read the same story later, and realise something is wrong, and that I don’t think I made the errot, but it is so subtle, we doubt ourselves.

Beware folks. If you agree with me, you might want to do whatever we can to escalate our concerns, to whoever or whatever has the power to make changes.