Answer Engines – Because Thinking is So 20th Century

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During this week’s editorial meeting, my good friend and colleague Mohan brought up “answer engines.” I had never heard of them, so I explored the idea. Let’s have some fun with it.

I love AI, but sometimes, we’ve got to be honest about the technological implications of some inventions.

Let’s face it: answer engines are here to save us all the trouble of understanding or nuance. They offer a distilled, bite-sized version of truth—perfectly packaged to suit our diminishing attention spans. After all, who has time to think when there’s content to consume, doom to scroll, and news to skim?

What are “answer engines,” you ask?

You’re already acquainted with them. Their names are Siri, Alexa, and all sorts of other AI interfaces already around our houses.

Instant Knowledge: Just Add Keywords and Stir

Think back a decade, and you might recall those heady days of Google searches, where you had to, you know, look through results. Back then, “research” meant diving into a sea of links, maybe opening a tab or two, comparing perspectives, and forming an actual opinion. But now, answer engines promise to cut straight to the chase. No more navigating different sources, no more considering the diversity of thought. Just type a question and get a single, blessed answer wrapped in an authoritative tone and delivered with all the zeal of a C-list influencer selling detox tea.

“Is coffee good for you?” There is no need for an entire world of dietetic science. Now, you just need to know that coffee is “good for the soul and bad for the jitters.” Case closed.

“Is there life after death?” Answer engines suggest it’s “complicated”—not that they would know, but hey, close enough.

Flawed, Incomplete, and Lovin’ It

The beauty of answer engines lies in their beautiful imperfection. They’ve achieved an almost human quality by making mistakes; only these mistakes come wrapped in the varnish of robotic confidence, like your Aspergic IT guy. Search engines may have given us too much information, but answer engines? They give us just enough information to be dangerous—and isn’t that all we ever really wanted?

Take financial advice. Previously, if you wanted to know about, say, the potential risks of investing in tech stocks, you’d do a bit of digging, look at sources, and maybe consult an expert or two. Now, you can ask an answer engine and be reassured with a pithy gem like, “Tech stocks are risky but potentially lucrative.” Profound.

Or what about legal questions? Once upon a time, you’d want to consult a real lawyer. Now, answer engines can give you a digestible summary that walks a fine line between accurate and “I can’t believe it’s not accurate.” Who needs legal fees when you can get generic advice about international tax law in less than a minute? What could go wrong?

Free to be Clueless

Answer engines are for everyone, from the harried student cramming before an exam to the family member who still doesn’t know why printing money is bad. They’re here to satisfy our collective craving for swift, unearned knowledge. And why stop there? Forget reading the news; just ask an answer engine for “what’s happening in the world.” Need to learn about a medical condition? Don’t worry about consulting an actual doctor when you can get an answer that’s 40% accurate but 100% immediate.

And who could forget the greatest perk of answer engines? The instant gratification of not knowing something, not learning it, but thinking you know it. They let us pretend we’re informed without the nuisance of introspection or, heaven forbid, education. Just ask and go, surfing along the high tide of half-truths and oversimplified nonsense.

Obfuscating Truth, One Query at a Time

Answer engines are all about giving us what we want, not what we need. They cater to our desire for easy answers rather than accurate ones, allowing us to float along in blissful ignorance. Imagine it—no more tricky political nuances, no pesky “background” to understand. Just the answer we want, with all the robustness of a fortune cookie and a fraction of the calories.

Because really, do we need to know that wealth inequality is a complex problem with geopolitical, economic, and scientific dimensions? No, we just need an answer, like, “Yes, it’s bad.” Boom—no more questions. No more sleepless nights agonizing over humanity’s future. The beauty of an answer engine is that it does all the agonizing for you (read: none at all).

Forget Thinking—Just Ask

Now, in the grand tradition of saving time at the expense of depth, answer engines do more than just scrape the surface—they worship it. They’re here for us when we need to get an answer without the hassle of critical thinking. It’s like having a friend who gives you the CliffsNotes version of everything; only this friend is a cold algorithm mining data from every corner of the internet, blending Wikipedia entries with random Reddit posts to give you a digital word salad of “truth.”

Gone are the days of self-discovery, of peeling back layers of understanding. In the age of answer engines, we’ve replaced nuanced thought with the speed of a server and the vagueness of an old acquaintance. Now, you don’t have to understand anything; just ask and receive your answer, pre-mushed for easy consumption.

One Size Fits All (Except When It Doesn’t)

Another feature of answer engines is their impressive ability to provide the same answer to different people. Doctors, mechanics, teachers, and clueless uncles all receive the exact same, context-free answer to their questions. This one-size-fits-all approach ensures everyone is equally misled, no matter their background or expertise.

Forget tailoring responses to the needs of the individual—answer engines prefer the “one size fits all” model. They assume that a person with a doctorate and a person with a vague interest in “curing disease” both deserve the same oversimplified answer to “what causes cancer.” Talk about efficiency! Who needs context, anyway?

A Bright, Context-Free Future

Looking forward, we can only hope that answer engines continue their journey toward total dominance, one vague answer at a time. Maybe one day, we’ll eliminate the need for all human expertise. Who needs historians when we can just ask the engine to summarize world history in 25 words or less? Why bother with linguists when we can just get AI-powered translations that are “close enough”?

Yes, the age of answer engines is upon us, and it’s as gloriously devoid of depth as we could have hoped. We’ve done away with patience, nuance, and complexity and replaced them with the answer equivalent of fast food—quick, comforting, and deeply unsatisfying if consumed in large quantities.

So, here’s to answer engines, the ultimate tool for the chronically impatient and the proudly incurious. They’ve taken the dream of easy answers and turned it into a relentless, unavoidable reality. And if you’re reading this and thinking, “But isn’t this article a little too cynical?” then, by all means, consult your answer engine of choice for confirmation.

Just remember: it’s always easier not to think.

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