The New Problem Of Average

I find myself looking at an interesting problem...

The new problem of average.

Now, there is a reason that I'm calling this a "new" problem.

See...

There has always been an average that has existed.

But overall...

That average has become better over time.

Average level of intelligence.

Average level of lifespan.

Average level of income.

As a general rule, these have all been increasing over time.

But something has been troubling me...

It seems that we are seeing a change in the average...

And not for the better.

It really struck me as I was reading something about AI...

They are calling it the "piss average problem"...

It is a side-effect of a problem we have known about with AI known as AI Model Collapse.

Essentially...

As more of the internet becomes generated by AI...

AI begins to learn from AI...

Which over time degrades the quality of AI...

Until it becomes so bad that it only outputs nonsense, making the model useless.

It is not dissimilar to the problem we see of inbreeding...

Where we see growing genetic problems as more generations of humans remain in the same "bloodline".

AI Model Collapse is not a theoretical occurrence, though...

It is something we are already seeing.

It is estimated that over 50% of the internet today has been generated by AI...

And the "piss average problem" is one of the results...

Where AI generated images have begun to favor the color yellow...

Making more and more images that have a yellow hue.

It has become such a problem that there are companies where their entire business model is "fixing" the yellow hue problem of AI generated images.

But this is not a problem we are seeing only in AI.

We look at the health industry, and we are seeing our average lifespan decrease.

We look at the movie industry, and it feels like we are getting worse and worse versions of the same thing.

We look at the tech industry, and every "new" product seems like a worse and unnecessary version of the previous.

We look at the scientific research industry, and it seems like every "new" solution really does not solve anything.

Now...

I'm not saying we are in a doomsday spiral.

I am calling out a general trend that I am seeing.

Trends that have causes...

And which we are feeling the effects of.

What is the trend we are seeing?

An overwhelming level of average.

See...

For averages to improve...

You need a significant level of above average to increase the overall average.

Not everything needs to be above average...

There will always be some level of low-quality that exists, and that is not inherently bad.

But a certain level of everything needs to be above the average to increase it.

The problem of average that we are seeing...

Is that more and more often...

We are seeing an overwhelming amount of things at the level of average...

Or below.

It is so overwhelming that it is decreasing the average.

Worse...

It is beginning to become so overwhelming...

That it is preventing us from seeing and accessing that which would raise the average.

It is also impacting us at a psychological level...

Because of the frequency bias.

See...

When we begin to see more of something...

Especially at overwhelming levels...

We begin to "believe" those things.

So...

If the majority of what we see is below average...

We psychologically begin to believe that we are seeing more of the truth...

And we are less likely to trust and believe what we are not seeing...

Even if what we are not seeing is significantly better.

This is the new problem of average.

When everything becomes easier and easier to create or develop...

But the skill and quality are not able to keep up...

Then we become overwhelmed with lower and lower quality...

Causing the average to decrease.

This can become an even worse...

When you consider other problems that we are seeing alongside this problem.

The problems of...

AI Hallucinations...

Misinformation...

Purposeful deception...

When we add these into the picture...

They decrease the average even faster...

And in some cases...

Cause significant harm.

When you can mass-produce these at record levels...

How much damage will our average sustain?

This is a question that we need to find answers to sooner rather than later...

But which, it seems, few are interested in really understanding well.

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