Sunday January 16, 2022
I got a phone message the other night. A very nice voice reminded me that I had not paid my last electricity bill.
Fortunately I couldn’t tell the recording that I had paid my bill, and she should go suck eggs. Because when I checked, I found she was right.
I had not paid my bill. Because I hadn’t received a bill.
So, of course, I called the company the next morning. And I got, of course, a voice menu.
“Please use your keypad to enter your account number.”
I did. Presumably, everyone owns a keypad telephone now.
“To confirm that you are the authorized representative for this account, enter your birthdate…”
I did.
“That information does not correspond with our data,” the robot voice informed me.
I have only one birthdate. I wondered if I should try entering some other date, at random. At my age, there are approximately 30,000 other dates on which I could have come into existence. Which one might the company’s computer have in its databanks?
None of them, it turned out.
“Returning you to the main menu,” said the robot voice.
The “main menu” seemed designed for industrial contractors seeking a billion-dollar boondoggle building the Site C Hydro dam. But there was one usable option -- “All other inquiries.”
Which led me, eventually, to a helpful woman who explained that the computer couldn’t recognize my birthdate, because it had never been entered.
Obvious answers
Now, wouldn’t you think that a computer smart enough to handle millions of accounts could have told me that?
Nope. You can’t argue with a computer.
“You can take care of this online,” the company’s voice assured me.
“I’m 85,” I retorted. “I didn’t grow up sucking touch screens. You’ll have to walk me through it.”
“That could be difficult,” she admitted. “My father’s 77. He doesn’t like taking instructions.”
But we worked through it. She gave me a new password. I got into my account. I paid my bill.
As we closed off, she said, “Well done. I’m proud of you.!
That’s the difference between a human – any human, but this was a good one – and a computer algorithm. No Google search engine will ever tell me I did well!
I had a similar problem with Zoom last Sunday morning. The latest COVID-19 regulations shut down my church’s in-person worship services. We went back to Zoom. I got the link. I entered the passcode.
“Incorrect passcode,” the program told me.
I tried again. No success.
I tried again. Very carefully. I. Entered. Each. Letter. Individually.
“Incorrect passcode.”
Even though it was the right link and the right passcode, sent directly by the program’s own “Invite” command.
Brick wall syndrome
You can’t argue with an algorithm.
Any more than you can reason with a malfunctioning parking meter. Or plead with the ATM that just swallowed your credit card.
When I run into a brick wall, I tend to get angry. I want to yell and scream and smash something. I suppose that makes me similar to those vehement anti-vaxxers.
But smashing my head against a brick wall doesn’t make sense. Because brick walls don’t have any sense.
Neither do algorithms. They are what they are, that’s all.
The other option is fatalism. Like black slaves in the American south, like untouchables in India, like women in a male-dominated society, they settle into a mindset – “Keep your head down. Don’t draw attention to yourself.”
It’s often expressed as, “You can’t fight city hall.” Or any systemic injustice.
Systems vs systemic
A lot of people misunderstand that term “systemic.” They assume that “systemic” means a formal system designed by someone. Imposed by law, or by some authority.
Not so. “Systemic” refers, rather, to the invisible and often unrecognized concepts that people take for granted. Theologian Walter Wink called these, “The Powers That Be.” St. Paul called them “principalities and powers.”
In U.S. police forces, as one possible example, anti-black racism is systemic, even though nobody set up such a system. Sexism seems systemic in the Canadian military.
Because it is systemic, it can’t be eliminated simply by issuing orders.
In the UBC alumni magazine Trek, professor Martina Valkovicova theorizes that in the not-too-distant future, our present social classes will be replaced by just three:
· Those who work with algorithms.
· Those who create the algorithms everyone else works with.
· And a few fabulously wealthy people who own those algorithms.
You can see it happening already. More and more, modern life forces you to do things the way an invisible algorithm requires.
Do as it says. Because you can’t argue with a computer.
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Copyright © 2021 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved.
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Your turn
Ann Krikken wrote about last week’s column, on how our society has made indigenous peoples invisible, “l agree with you but how do we change it?”
More and more, all I can answer is, “I don’t know, but we have to try.”
Isabel Gibson said much the same: “It's hard to know what to do to make a positive difference. But that's a better place than not being aware that there is a need for such a difference.”
Steve Roney disagreed with the whole premise: “You argue that First Nations, Indians, Eskimos, have until recently been invisible. Just the opposite. Didn’t you, like me, grow up playing cowboys and Indians, watching Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy and the Lone Ranger and those Western movies, comics, novels? Didn’t you notice all those Indians?
“What we are really seeing currently is treaty Indians pulling rank and saying ‘You’re not Indians. Only we are Indians.’”
Cliff Boldt: “Thank you for today’s column. It hit me like a ton of bricks a few years ago, when the Truth and Reconciliation commission was travelling and meeting with indigenous people, that I did not know very much about residential schools or anything indigenous.
“I was born in Saskatchewan, north of Saskatoon, close to several reserves. I attended public schools in Saskatoon and some of my class mates were Metis (I knew them as ‘half-breeds’) Both my grandparents successfully farmed land that had been taken from the local indigenous people. This did not dawn on me until I was in my mid-50s and about to retire.
“Sixteen years of public education, 35 years as a teacher and administrator in the public system. It was not until I was assigned to a school near a reservation in North Vancouver and about five years from retirement that I learned about residential schools, from parents and grandparents of my students, people who had attended the residential schools.
“Today, this embarrasses me -- how could I not know? Was I willfully ignorant? And the pronouns -- I wince when I hear people talk about them, the other…”
Tom Watson: “I'm not convinced we didn't know. Maybe we didn't know everything but we knew enough to do something positive; we simply decided not to do much of anything because it wasn't in our best interest.”
Art Hildebrand wanted the finger to point the other way: “We grew up with the maxim, ‘God (we) can only help those that help themselves.’ What have indigenous people done to help themselves to live in the new reality of Canada? My observation is that those who assimilate but keep what is valuable from their religion, heritage and culture will do very well in Canada.”
Geneva Ensign thought I had left out something important: “I applaud your article about Invisible people, but the most invisible are the Indigenous women -- without whom the explorers, traders, etc. would not have survived. These women, and their mixed-blood children, were usually abandoned once the ‘white’ men were in a position to marry an ‘acceptable’woman.
“Not much has been written about these women. Please acknowledge them in one of your Sunday editorials -- not just the missing and abused women in the news the last couple of years.”
Eduard Hiebert: “As a first generation born Canadian with a mother tongue neither of Canada's official languages (and not Indigenous either) my experience throughout much of my life has been as an outsider to the general population.”
Bob Rollwagen: The history of the human race is a book that has not been written. Dynasties have come and gone. Races have been eliminated, have integrated, have been forgotten, and all races currently are creating an environment that may eventually lead to the end of mankind.
“As one circles the globe, one sees traditions, dress, cultural norms that feel similar or totally unique. While this is important to each tribe, it is not, I believe, what is important. I have worked, travelled, with people across the planet. Each has had a history and a life journey that formed them -- some to advantage and some to lesser advantage. What is important is respect of the other, support and improvement for each and understanding of their tribal reality.
“What is happening in Canada is recognition of mistakes and efforts to change. When my tribe came to this part of the globe, they were escaping famine and oppression. They brought their beliefs. They had no knowledge of the people already living here and the rest is History.
“It is good that past errors are being recognized. Let’s hope that we continue to improve.”
Dorothy Haug suggested, “One starting place may be to examine the community and sharing from the 2021 book The Gatherings, by Shirley Hager and Mawopiane. Subtitled ‘Reimagining Indigenous-Settler Relations’, this book chronicles a group of people coming together to examine ways they might explore issues common to them both. Participants came from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.”
The book’s preface says, “We hope that people will see our story as an example of what alliances look like. From the beginning, we gave voice to our differences and began building something. It was like constructing a house together. We are excited to share the lessons that we learned over time.”
Jan Edwards: “I notice that we are calling ourselves ‘settlers’ now. I guess we don't want to say ‘invaders’.”
Jean Koning summarized what she heard me saying: "Now I've begun to learn, with some comprehension, about the truth of the historic relationship between the First Peoples of Turtle Island and The Rest of Us in the nation-state we call Canada, what do I do now?"
She offered “the same words I have been repeating all these past years, which is: ‘The First Peoples have some very important things to say to us, and we must learn to listen to them’ -- and later, as I learned more I added: ‘We must learn how to listen to them’.
“There are now hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of ways to do that. One of my favorites is: https://mediaindigena.libsyn.com/wetsuweten-solidarity-ep-275 -- Rick Harp is a highly respected Indigenous journalist, and all his podcast efforts are insightful for people like us, I believe.
“I believe that, if you follow this new path of discovery, you will be richly rewarded -- as I have been throughout my journey of walking in solidarity with First Peoples -- whether they wanted me or not!”
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TECHNICAL STUFF
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PROMOTION STUFF…
To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols. (This is to circumvent filters that think some of these links are spam.)
Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” is an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca. He set up my webpage, and he doesn’t charge enough.
I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom. She also runs beautiful pictures. Her Thanksgiving presentation on the old hymn, For the Beauty of the Earth, Is, well, beautiful -- https://www.traditionaliconoclast.com/2019/10/13/for/
Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom (NB that’s “watso” not “watson”)
ALVA WOOD ARCHIVE
The late Alva Wood’s collection of satiric and sometimes wildly funny columns about a mythical village’s misadventures now have an archive (don’t ask how this happened) on my website: http://quixotic.ca/Alva-Wood-Archive. Feel free to browse all 550 columns.