By Coach Dave Daubenmire
February 20, 2025
You would have to admit that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is pretty amazing. It often eliminates the need to think. But the phrase itself doesn’t really make sense.
Webster defines artificial as “Made or contrived by art, or by human skill and labor, in opposition to natural.” Intelligence is “to understand.” It is important for us to note that it is not the information that is artificial but, rather, the means by which the information is acquired.
Intelligence is simply the degree to which something is understood. Artificial is the method by which the information is accumulated. To use a calculator to balance a checkbook is in part artificial. The numbers that are used are simply information. It is the method by which the information is gathered that is artificial…not the information itself.
Information is simply the accumulation of knowledge. Artificial is the METHOD by which information is accumulated. (Stay with me….this is important.)
Most of the information we learn is gathered through artificial means…meaning some gadget or machine does the investigation for us. You plug 28 X 10 into a calculator (artificial) and the machine spews out the answer…280. It is not the INFORMATION that is artificial, it is the METHOD by which the information is gathered.
As a young child in the 2nd grade, we all memorized the times table…9×9 is 81. We still remember it today because it was “memorized” by the natural function of our brain. Even right now you can answer “what is 8×8?” because you have MEMORIZED the process in your brain. That is NATURAL INTELIGENCE because the information was gathered by the NATURAL function of your brain.
ARTIFICIAL intelligence simply gathers the information FASTER than what you could NATURALLY do with a pen and paper. Artificial intelligence is nothing new. It simply is a process by where a machine does the calculation for us. The information is gathered ARTIFICALLY…by unnatural means. The information isn’t artificial…the process of accumulating the information IS.
That whole process got me thinking. Somewhere in the bygone days of public education someone deposited in my brain, through NATURAL means, that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. I can’t prove if that information is true or not, but I did accumulate it through natural (thinking) means. That, of course, was before the days of computers.
Soooo, if for every action there is an opposite reaction, am I correct in assuming that there is such a thing as ARTIFICIAL STUPIDITY? Webster defines stupidity as “Dull; heavy; formed without skill or genius.” I believe the answer to that question is a resounding YES!! There is no way that what people believe today is natural. Stupidity is often taught…
Does anyone out there besides me remember Joe Friday the character played by Jack Webb on the TV show the Dragnet? Do you remember his trademark line “Just the facts, Ma’am…just the facts.” Oh, could our country use a new infusion of the gospel of Jack Webb!!
Today, most Americans are not educated but rather propagandized. Propaganda is defined as “ideas or statements that are often false or exaggerated and that are spread in order to help a cause, a political leader, organization, government, etc.”
The end product of government/media/education complex is artificial stupidity. A stupidity that is sooo off course that it is impossible that such ignorance could be natural. Permit me to posit a few that are currently being taught and believed by otherwise intelligent human beings.
• If it feels good, do it.
• Men can give birth to babies.
• Unborn children aren’t human.
• Believe the experts.
• Trust the science.
• You were born in the wrong body.
• I’m from the government and I am here to help.
• Tattoos and piercings look good on your face.
• Might makes right.
• All love is the same.
• Religion is not permitted in schools.
• If you believe it then it is true.
• Everyone goes to heaven.
• Christians are not to judge.
• The Republicans didn’t know about the government corruption.
• Public schools teach the values of the public.
• A college degree means you are smart.
• Our elections are safe, secure, and honest.
• God loves everybody.
I’m sure you could add a few. It is my firm belief that artificial stupidity is a far great risk to America than artificial intelligence. Just look around. Nearly 75 MILLION Americans voted for Kamala Harris. I rest my case.
To steal a line from Forrest Gump… “Stupid is as stupid does.” Sorry folks, but this ain’t natural.
© 2025 Dave Daubenmire – All Rights Reserved
E-Mail Dave Daubenmire: ptsalt@gmail.com
