At times, the media brouhaha reaches a crazy crescendo, creating con-texts that do not exist, and thus/thereby hiding the realities. Generally, such is the fate of the celebrities, especially the Bollywood bigwigs. They unite, they separate, et al, though more in the ever active imagination of the media.
This time round, such was the fate of the stars, the real celestial ones and the planets! For quite some time, almost a month, there was a huge hoo-hah over a total solar eclipse which was to be so potent that for six long minutes, the whole world was going to be pitch dark, and that, too, in the afternoon, 12 noon-ish!
Article after article discussed the celestial (in every sense of the term) event in the minutest details, beginning with the oh-so-scientific explanation of the concept called total solar eclipse; why, its entire path was outlined as well. I myself read many such articles, both in English and Marathi, and bothered my brothers with one!
Well, now it transpires that no such eclipse is to happen, at least not in 2025. There might be a partial solar eclipse in September which might not be visible in India anyways.
I thought rather in detail about this event not to be and its reportage. In my opinion, yet again it shows how the current media, especially the "social" version, completely, totally, absolutely lack authenticity. Actually, the media must check, re-check, cross-check, counter-check every iota of information they let loose, eh, "releases".
Unfortunately, in the byte-obsessed world today, who cares for bits of truth? There must constantly be some excitement! No wonder, it is called "breaking" news!
Sad indeed, especially because it gets forwarded most unthinkingly. If the eclipse that was not to be has taught us a lesson, it is how to be a conscientious creator and consumer of data (the real gold in the AI wor(l)ds) today!
The AI is hence dangerous because it can be used to create and consecrate half untruths to downright lies to rank gossip as gospel truths! What a "brave new world" (as Aldous Huxley would say) where "falsehood is truth" (to add yet another axiom to the three adages of Orwell's "1984")!
Pratima@Media as the message, as Marshall McLuhan put it, is coming alive in a quirky way, right?
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