Financial

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More Harm than Good?

The news is filled with stories of the negative and intended consequences of new technology and/or government’s actions.

When I mix them all together in my mind, the common theme seems to be that artificial things are replacing real, natural and healthy ones.

The vagueness of the words “things” and “ones” in the previous sentence is intentional as I wish to share a number of actions which have been introduced, implemented, enforced or mandated in the past decade which had good intentions but ended up causing more harm than good.

1) mRNA Covid vaccination mandates.

I was initially excited and happy to take the newly developed shot against the novel virus in early 2021. The unnatural part came when governments and public health organizations began mandating and enforcing compliance for the young and the healthy. It was wrong to discount natural immunity. I am shocked by the lack of concern and action by the FDA in the face of the high number of serious adverse side effects due to the Emergency Use Authorized shots.

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

Hundreds of medical doctors across the world are now speaking out against the mRNA vaccine programs with phrases like “They are more harm than good for most people.”

2) Social Media platforms.

TikTok, Twitter and Instagram. The artificial, online world has pockets of goodness but more and more areas of negative manipulation. Social media has depressed many and has made people more divided than ever. Millions are addicted to scrolling in these emotionally draining environments and struggle to have real, live relationships with other humans. These platforms are more harm than good for most people, especially children.

3) Excessive government stimulus and control of monetary systems.

The current banking crisis of March 2023 is an example of the negative impact that government interference in the markets can have.

Photo by Mikhail Nilov on Pexels.com

4) Censorship of certain words and viewpoints.

Preventing people from speaking on college campuses is not encouraging healthy debate and critical thinking skills. This authoritative stance against only some ideological groups is doing more harm than good.

Coercion, manipulation, control and discrimination are not healthy, they are not natural, and they cause more harm than good.

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Robo Koko: Confessions of a Dashboard Junkie

I must confess, I’ve become a dashboard junkie!

In the last six months, multiple aspects of my life have been tracked and monitored by an automated, “robo” tool.  From fitness workouts and calories burned to sleep and step activity to financial investing, I have gadgets aplenty tracking a plethora of performance and personal progress statistics.

Last month I joined Koko FitClub, a digital gym and have been religiously wearing my Fitbit to capture my steps, stairs climbed, and sleep activity.  The Koko experience has been positive and it seems I’m becoming addicted to the online dashboards.  I enjoy the SmartTraining aspect of having my workout plans preloaded in a thumb drive and the visual display of each exercise and rep count on the floating screen in front of me.  After each workout, I run home to check out the website to review my numbers and progress.  I’m like a little kid who wants to see the grades on her report card at school.

kokofitlogo

One meaning for the word koko in Japanese is “individually” and that is what this type of fitness program gives you-  help and guidance from an intelligent machine with minimal human interaction.

I’ve watched this trend toward more personalized and internally focused electronics, apps and interfaces over the past fifteen years starting with iTunes, the iPod and the iPhone and moving on to Google Glass, the iPad, the Fitbit and now the Apple Watch.  It seems that more and more we humans want our experiences with the world to be custom tailored to our exact needs and desires.

Here are some of the reasons why I like robo and koko-like tracking and interfaces:

    1. Awareness and Accountability- both are increased.
    2. Motivation.  I respond well to the visual achievement of goals.
    3. Charts and graphs excite me.
    4. Encouragement and recognition on meeting objectives. Fitbit is very good at this.

fitbit

 

The Economist magazine recently published an interesting article entitled “Ask the Algorithm”  which highlighted the recent trends in automated wealth management tools and the rise of the “robo-advisers”.  There a donut charts aplenty on the dashboards of these new applications.

SIPdonut

Asset Allocation Dashboard

So welcome to the machine ( one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs) and kick back and enjoy the lovely and colorful dashboards!