AI – There’s also those that don’t know they don’t know.

Yes. Said by a Yorkshire man many years ago. The full quote is:
There’s those that know, and there’s those that don’t know, There’s also those that don’t know, they don’t know.
The stifling effects of industrialisation on humankind are already known. Individualism in the design of clothes, carpets, curtains etc., has virtually disappeared, with the exception of those resourceful folks which chop up rags, and create original pieces of their own design.
The same can be said for almost every utensil, or machine we make use of.
The BBC recently published an article on AI chatbots Sadly they did not publish a link on their post to the study itself. I found that using a search it is here.

It’s interesting where a study of some other’s work takes you, especially when the BBC itself employs folk who simply repeat what they have read from an unreliable source, such as boasts by a company regarding a motionless wind generation system.

One such item I followed was regarding the recommendation of vaping to give up smoking. Again, the report does not provide a link to the source. So I checked the NHS website on giving up smoking. This makes grim reading. The three options ‘recommended’ are all chemical options. The NHS comments giving up is difficult: Many people try to quit with willpower alone, but going cold turkey can be tough.
That apparently is the help you get for a non-chemical approach. This is nothing short of appalling. No wonder AI chatbots get it wrong.

I gave up in 1986. After smoking from the age of 12. I’m 78. I’ll leave you to do the arithmetic.
I had a friend, who had been a smoker, but was then a member of ASH – Action on smoking and health. He advised me, and informed me about both the good things that would happen and the bad. He warned me about ‘transferring’ my addiction to alcohol or food. He also informed me of more colds, and personal plumbing failures.
It was bad, very bad at times, but ‘situation normal’ was eventually resumed. I’ve never smoked a cigarette since.
On the NHS site the chemical ‘solutions’ are presented first. Only later are you invited to contact your ‘local’ Stop Smoking Service – everyone has one, don’t you know.. Significantly ASH are never mentioned. Their summary on vaping is interesting.

My advice on giving up is simple. Don’t transfer your addiction by consuming nicotine by other means. Talk to those who have given up by ‘cold turkey’. Enjoy the extra spending in your wallet.

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