Unresponsive government agencies

BEFORE the internet and mobile phones came along, we could only contact the government agencies using landlines.

The problem with using landlines is that almost always, the person “in-charge” is not always available, and even if he or she is available, we have to talk to so many people before we could talk to him or her. Almost always, the person on line will just tell us to go to their office instead, which defeats the purpose of using a communications device.

Nowadays, it is ironic that despite the fact that very few people have access to landlines, many government agencies publish only their landline numbers, thus making it impossible for the public to contact them via mobile, email or social media.

Believe it or not, there are many government agencies that do not even have a social media presence at all. The sad thing is, even if some government agencies would publish their mobile numbers, email addresses and social media accounts, they hardly ever answer at all, and if ever they do answer, all we get are auto-replies or some chatbots giving us robotic and impersonal messages.

I wonder if our government officials realize that it is more expensive to call a landline from a mobile phone? That it is actually cheaper for our people to contact them via text, email and chat messages?

Even Viber, WhatsApp and Telegram are cheaper to use than a text message. So why don’t they use these three platforms too?

DEALING WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Many people are now scared that the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) could directly affect them because they could lose their jobs. That is actually more than just a possibility now, because it is already happening.

There is no way that we could go around AI, because the only way to deal with it is to go heads on with it. Right now, I could say that no one really knows what form or shape AI is going to take. I could only say that whatever happens next, we should control AI as a technology, instead of being controlled by it.

The fear of many people is that the emergence of AI could lead to a battle between mankind and machines. That could happen if we do not control the technology.

Perhaps one way to deal with AI is to learn our lessons from how we dealt with nuclear technology. Generally speaking, technology is neutral, that means that it could be used for either good or bad, depending on who is controlling it.

However, the fact that it could be used for bad is no reason to stop it and discard it as it is emerging. When it comes to the management of technology, I propose that the government should separate the developmental functions from the regulatory functions, because there is an inherent conflict of interest between the two.

One should check each other, to keep a balance that is generally good for the whole society./