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Munchkins and Google

Tim Marting

Updated: Mar 21, 2023

All right, guys. Welcome back to Thoughts of a Random Citizen. I'm your host as always Hugh Sifu, and today, a bit of an odd episode for you guys as it is about opinions and Google and society as a whole, but that's the trend I've been going with lately. Hopefully, you guys enjoy this episode. Pretty much it is going to be based around the fact that I called my girlfriend the other day a munchkin. She, being Italian, was like, ''What the hell is a munchkin?'' I didn't really know how to explain it. It was cute. I said it as in an endearing way which I later found out that that is the way it was meant to be applied as one of the many definitions of it.


I remember my mom when I was younger used to call me a munchkin and it was always an endearing term. As I went to Google to try to explain specifically what it was because I was like, well, it means you're small and cute or whatever. I don't know. Obviously, she doesn't to be called small very often. Anyways, pretty much as I was Googling it, I noticed that it started to fill in as Google always does searches which means that other people are searching that or it just leads on what it thinks you want to do. I saw that a lot of people obviously had Googled, ''Is munchkin a nice nickname?'' That just led me down the rabbit hole of thought processes, and that's what this episode's about.

If we can't even think for ourselves, I guess, to understand what an opinion is and meaning yes, I guess you can call someone a munchkin, and it would a bad thing. Although the official definition is “a small person or thing often endearing in nature”. If we go down a path to where instead of Googling what might define munchkin, we're now Googling, ''Is munchkin a mean nickname?'' Well, that's an opinion, is it not? That's situationally, is it not? Depending on the use, it could be mean or it could be really nice.


How are we letting one thing or Google or the Internet define what should be an opinion? A Reliant K quote here, "Opinions are immunity to being told you're wrong".


That being said, we can't have Google and/or the masses having one similar opinion which is a good thing I guess, but at the same time, doesn't growth stop there when we can't even think enough for ourselves to see situationally if something was good or bad? How am I going to go to Google when somebody called me something and be like, ''Was that mean?'' Well, was it mean? Think for yourself. Like, was it mean? You were there, Google wasn't there. They're about to be because they have cameras and microphones that they listen to.


The point is we need to figure out for ourselves. I was Googling it to try to explain the definition while I was being endearing to my girlfriend. I wasn't Googling, ''Is it nice?'' I was Googling the definition. The fact that we're getting to that point is a bit concerning because if we don't even have the thought process to think for ourselves and we all just have one opinion of which is told to us from birth. Well, the diversity and opinions is what's gotten humans to this point, I'd say. What happens if whoever runs Google or not to say that this is an option but the AI machine itself dictates by some algorithm that is beyond us and our knowledge that we are going to go back to the day and age, and this is an extreme example but one that needs to be thought about.


We go back to the day and age where ''Oh I think that we should have human sacrifices again.'' Someone's random opinion is like, ''I don't think that's a good idea.'' We probably shouldn't, but if we all have one opinion and it's dictated to us by some AI machine, that's probably not good for us. That's probably bad. We need to think for ourselves and not be told. That's the danger of TikTok. That's the danger of social media. Is the fact that we don't-- it's essentially these AI algorithms, these let me sell you something before you want to buy it. Not thinking for myself. Not having any forward thought during the day. That's the danger of it.


As we go down a path not yet understood, we're letting this baby AI machine, this infantile, infinitely intelligent system dictate the future for every individual that uses it, which seems to be almost every individual now. Very concerning. I guess it's easier but there's also studies that freaking tribes in the Amazon or Africa or whatever are much happier people than we are in day-to-day life. Also, they probably don't have to wear a mask during a lockdown. Weird, and they're all right. Anyways, a little bit of a rant there. Hopefully, you guys enjoyed that episode. I got nothing else. Talk to you guys next week. Bye.

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