Machines are Thinking for Themselves

               I’ve been watching the encroaching and all-encompassing takeover of our lives by AI (artificial intelligence).  Sometimes it’s amusing, sometimes frustrating, but always scary.

               Scarier yet, to me, is the fact that simple machines – with no artificial intelligence whatsoever (or intelligence of any kind for that matter) – seem to be “thinking.”  Let me offer some examples.

               First, there’s our telephone landline.  I realize we are in the minority of folks who still have such archaic things.  There aren’t even any phone companies, or any other business that we can find, who still sell, install, or service such an entity.  Yet, here we are with a landline.  It works really well, typically and personally, I love giving that number out to various entities rather than my cell phone.  (But the annoying calls, texts, and pings on cell phones is a blog for another day). 

               It works well, unless it rains or snows.  At any such time – and given where we live, it’s frequent – the line shorts out, or disconnects, or does something!  The phone will suddenly ring several times, very shortly, for about a half hour.  Or it will ring continuously until you go unplug it.  Or it will have no dial tone to call out, but will still ring.  If you answer, there’s just dead air.

               Nothing scares you more on a dark, rainy night than a phone that won’t stop ringing.          

               But okay, this is just an electrical malady, nothing sinister.

               Then there’s the shower curtain rod.  It’s a tension rod and has worked fine for years.  One morning, without a squeak or a slide, in the middle of my husband’s shower, it simply plummeted to the floor.

               Apparently a screw had come unscrewed.  But why?  We don’t move the rod.  We don’t adjust the rod.  We never tinker with it at all.  So how did a random screw become unscrewed?  By itself?

               Again, possibly a random event, but I start feeling like machinery is playing tricks on me.

               Then we had the major snowstorm of January, 2026.  On the second day, our truck started up fine and my hubby took the snow blower next door to clear the driveway.  That afternoon, we decided to do more good deeds and got in the truck.  It wouldn’t start.

               We charged the battery, but nothing.  So my husband braved the roads in our car and went to town to buy a new battery.  He put it in, it was fully charged, and he turned the key.   Nothing. It didn’t even click.

               Calling the tow company, we were told there were too many tows being called in and to try again tomorrow.  So on Tuesday, he went out to try to truck.  It was still dead.  He called the towing company and got the same answer.  Try again tomorrow.

               Wednesday, repeat.  Truck wouldn’t start and no tow was available.  Thursday morning, the truck was still dead and no tow was available. Friday morning, the truck (now laughing at us, I’m sure) was still not starting and the tows were not available.

               Saturday morning, my husband called the auto company and – hurrah! – a tow truck was coming between 10 and noon.  It arrived at 2:30.  The young man hopped out of his truck and went into our garage.  Taking the key and reaching across the seat – he didn’t even get in! – he turned the key and – WHAM! Truck started up like brand new.

               Sigh.  I’m pretty sure these machines are playing with us.  And we’re losing.