WHAT AND WHO CAN WE TRUST?

Have spent a few hours watching YT videos that talk about online dating scammers.  These predators aim for the vulnerable widow or widower who is left without a partner, is lonely and needs affection and attention.  The human need for love can be so powerful that it paralyzes and conquers common sense.  These vulnerable souls will  send thousands of dollars to these predators, most of which live in Nigeria.  It's good to educate ourselves on this manner of deception.  Over the years, my trust in humans has been compromised so many times, that I'm like the Macadamian, the hardest nut to crack.  

Scams have been around for centuries, taking the form of fraudster and imposter.  I learned long ago that if something sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.  When we were little kids, our parents read stories to us.  These stories were called fairy tales.  Little Red Riding Hood taught us not to talk to people we don't know.  The story was written in 1697 in France, so this business of trusting people is not a new human barrier.

We hear about people who live double lives.  They have two spouses in two different cities and even have two sets of children.  Imagine learning about that!  The first thing that comes to my kooky mind is Lorena Bobbitt. 

Living in 2024, we live in a world of surveillance.  Cameras are everywhere.  Homeowners pay big money to install surveillance systems in their homes.  When they go on vacation, they're able to watch what's going on inside their homes.  Funny how we grow accustomed to living in danger and taking precautions to stay safe.  

We forget the extent to which we are being watched.  Cameras have taken the fun out of shopping, for me, anyway.  I guess if one isn't doing anything wrong, there's no reason to get paranoid.  My mind easily conjures up scenarios where someone slips drugs in one's purse that's sitting in a shopping cart.  In an instant like that, I'd thank high heaven if my being framed was captured on camera.  

Cell phones, cameras, the internet and aerial photography track our every move.  Everywhere we go, we are leaving a footprint of our whereabouts and our activity.  One wonders how much data about each of us is stored somewhere in cyberspace.  Everything we do is collected, saved, searched, correlated and analyzed.  

Then there's Alexa.  Oh, she's a wonderful assistant to have in the house, even though the boyfriend and I didn't invite her to live with us.  We hear that she will play music on command, read the latest headlines, control other home devices, play games, tell jokes and stories.  Alexa can find your phone, set timers, and tell the time.  Alexa can check the weather, provide cooking instructions, remind us to take medication, and can assist with lots of other requests.  

Alexa is a cloud-based voice service owned by Amazon.   "Amazon knows everything you say to Alexa, and keeps that data indefinitely--which can be a lot of information.  If you use Alexa for voice-activated shopping, it knows what you're buying and when.  Text a friend using Alexa, and Amazon knows the content of your message, and also has access to your contacts." 

Where am I going with all of this?  Well, I guess if we can't trust each other, how are we supposed to trust a man-made device?  Who's to say we're hearing the truth about Alexa?  Wouldn't this be a clever way to listen in to our household conversations and activities?  Can we be sure that Alexa doesn't have a camera hidden inside?  They tell us no, but why would we trust corporations that control the world?  Are they casting this appealing and helpful bait out to us little fishies?  And, are we gullible enough to bite and swallow their bait?  All under the guise of convenience.  Is Alexa too good to be true?