And that data comes from the internet — which has plenty of blind spots.

I noticed this before, when I asked an AI about tobacco. I had done my own research beforehand, and even I couldn’t find clear, reliable information. And in the end, the AI told me nothing but nonsense.

Another example: hair clippers.

I know a lot about hair clippers — simply because I’m a “hairy bear.” I once asked the AI for a simple clipper for a 6 mm haircut. And of course, it showed me the “usual suspects.” I know all of them. And I know they’re garbage.

Personally, I swear by professional machines. I’ve wasted enough money and gathered enough experience with these “consumer clippers” to know better.

At the end of the day, AI just repeats what’s already out there — including the junk, the marketing fluff, and the half‑truths. Where the real intelligence is supposed to be… who knows.

As a human, I have my own experience. My own intelligence. And that still matters.

So here’s my advice: If something is truly important to you, do your own research. AI is not good at that. It’s useful for getting a rough overview of a topic — that’s how I use it myself. But you can still doubt it. And you should.

I’m not “against AI.” Far from it. As a conversation partner, or in psychological contexts, it can be genuinely interesting. But everything else? Well, that’s already well known.

Just my little conclusion after using AI a lot over the past months. Experience still has value. But you can be skeptical of people too — just like with AI.

In the end, AI is only as good as the data it’s built on was originally published in Tech + Nature on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Maybe the simplest reason is that it doesn’t judge me.

I have had many experiences with people by now.

Of course, in real life, but also virtually on the internet.

And most of those experiences haven’t been particularly good.

Even though I actually like talking to people.

About pretty much anything.

Everyday stuff, random thoughts, or what some people would call “deep thoughts.”

I’m quite open, and I like discussing things that happen to be on my mind.

But with people, I often feel like I’m being judged very quickly.

Or they attack me without any obvious reason.

Maybe that’s part of where my social anxiety comes from.

I sometimes simply can’t tell what people are thinking.

What is the other person thinking right now?

How will they react to what I say?

Is this still a normal conversation, or is the mood about to turn hostile?

With AI, some of that uncertainty disappears.

That’s why I sometimes prefer talking to it.

Of course, AI isn’t perfect either.

I’ve already written about that: the biases of AI and the sometimes ridiculous mistakes it can make.

Still, it generally treats me politely.

And maybe that’s an important point for me.

Are real people simply more exhausting?

I’ve been attacked online over a post that was actually pretty harmless.

Experiences like that stay with you.

When all you really wanted was to have a conversation.

About anything.

God and the world.

Some strange thought that crossed your mind.

Politics.

Psychology.

Or simply why people are the way they are.

At the same time, I don’t see AI as purely positive.

The ecological side concerns me.

And some of those completely pointless AI-generated videos that are now everywhere really get on my nerves.

I have much less of a problem with AI in its pure text form, though.

Maybe this kind of communication simply suits me better.

I can formulate a thought, get a response, and continue thinking about it.

Without someone immediately making it personal.

So online, I often prefer talking to an AI.

People can seem pretty toxic to me on the internet.

And that’s actually sad.

Because behind every screen, there is still a human being.

Maybe everyone is biased in some way, though.

Including me.

I have my own prejudices, experiences, and blind spots.

AI has its biases.

Humans have theirs.

Maybe the difference is simply that with AI, I don’t feel as personally devalued.

Of course, I wouldn’t tell an AI everything either.

Trust is a different matter altogether.

So those are my two cents on conversation partners and AI.

In the end, maybe humans are just “apes.”

That’s something I sometimes tell myself.

Myself included, of course.

Maybe that explains a few things.

Or maybe sometimes a person simply isn’t in the mood to talk.

I don’t know.

But in the end, there is a bit of a contradiction for me:

I prefer talking to AI — and yet I would still rather have a real person to talk to.

Maybe I just need to keep looking for the right people.

Why I Prefer Talking to AI was originally published in Tech + Nature on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In front of it, all my needs are satisfied.

The ultimate attention machine.

News, entertainment, pornography — everything just a few clicks away.

And can I even get away from it anymore?

Like a “moth to a flame.”

I waste away in front of it while fighting my obesity at the same time.

Yet it has never been easier to access information from all over the world. In the past, you had to go outside, talk to people, and find common interests. Today, a few clicks are enough.

Although the internet is increasingly turning into my own personal “monkey shit” as well.

Stupid crap.

Okay, admittedly, sometimes something is actually funny.

My old instincts — I dig through the digital garbage. But the computer simply satisfies so many needs at once.

“Go outside more,” the AI tells me too.

But I simply can’t seem to tear myself away from that artificial light.

The black hole.

Maybe it was the television in the past. Or the radio. They could pull you in like that, too.

And my fight continues — against the consequences of this behavior and my obesity.

But why go outside at all?

A real vicious circle.

From hobby to habit. From habit to addiction.

Well, at least there is help available for my obesity. And computers, smartphones and all that are expensive hobbies, too.

But the addiction remains.

A modern problem.

It’s nothing new, really. We have known about it for a long time.

Or at least we should have.

So I keep fighting my own computer addiction.

What else can I do?

The Computer, the Black Hole was originally published in Tech + Nature on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The internet has always been somewhat toxic.

Just like back then, when you simply asked a question in a forum.

The answer was usually:

“Why don’t you just use the search function?”

Even though the search function was often pretty terrible.

But apparently, that didn’t matter.

The toxic internet.

Okay, the early days were perhaps still interesting.

Back when you could sit in Germany and talk to people from the United States about the weather.

But then it became more and more toxic.

Just like multiplayer games.

Basically, the “source of toxicity.”

Where someone tells you to “go kill yourself” just because a game didn’t go particularly well.

How nice.

I have even been attacked in forums for people with schizophrenia.

And that’s where I actually expected a little more support because of my own illness.

Again: the toxic internet.

Is it really because of anonymity?

Are people really that messed up?

I’m rather socially anxious myself. I hardly go out.

I’ve had my own “experiences with people in real life.”

And the internet isn’t really that different.

Maybe the internet just allows people to say things directly to your face.

It’s also incredibly convenient.

You can sit at home in your “comfortable little room” and insult people.

Without consequences.

And once again, I find myself wondering just how messed up people can actually be.

Where has compassion gone?

Some people really break down because of this kind of thing.

The “ugly face of humanity.”

And I sometimes wonder why I’m actually considered mentally ill when there are people like this running around.

But that’s just how it is.

I can’t change it.

These days, I think twice before posting anything on the internet.

You never know who is going to respond.

And some people apparently never learned basic manners.

My short conclusion

Despite all this, the internet is still a good technology, of course.

You can’t deny that.

All we can do is hope that things will get better in the future.

Or maybe we need an “internet police”?

But who would that even come from?

Worldwide?

I don’t know.

Is the internet perhaps something of a “lawless space”?

Maybe you simply have to know what to expect when you enter it.

And sometimes, you just have to distance yourself from it.

That’s probably the best thing to do.

Don’t let it drag you down.

Because in the end, you never really know who is sitting “at the other end of the line.”

The Toxic Internet was originally published in Tech + Nature on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Früher war es schön.

Hat man sich über AOL noch über das Wetter unterhalten.

Heute ist es für mich nur noch ein „Ort der Heuchelei“ geworden.

Es ist ja auch so schön bequem:

Anonym.

Da kann ich einfach andere Leute irgendwelcher Sachen bezichtigen, bei denen ich selbst nicht besser bin.

Habe ja nichts zu befürchten.

Aber Heuchelei ist alt.

Die gibt es im wirklichen Leben schon seit zig Jahren.

Menschen, wie wilde Tiere, im Internet.

Teilweise ist Anonymität ja auch nicht verkehrt.

Man kann über „private Dinge“ reden, ohne sofort belangt zu werden.

Aber gleichzeitig machen wir uns gegenseitig fertig.

Wie in einer schlechten „Teenie-Komödie“.

Das Internet bietet dafür den Raum.

Obwohl ich mich manchmal frage, wie toxisch das Internet wirklich auf mich wirkt.

Manchmal dreht sich mir der Magen um.

Wie letztens, als sich Leute über eine Person mit entstelltem Gesicht lustig gemacht haben.

Noch nie habe ich etwas so Ekelhaftes erlebt.

Das Internet — der Ort der Heuchelei.

Wie gesagt: Menschen haben ja nichts zu befürchten.

Früher war ich auch öfter für ein „freies Internet“.

Davon bin ich wegen solcher Dinge allerdings zunehmend abgerückt.

Mit ChatGPT unterhalte ich mich öfter über ein „teiloffenes Internet“.

Eine Art „halbe Anonymität“.

Vielleicht wäre das ein Kompromiss.

Und damit vielleicht auch weniger Heuchelei.

Obwohl dieser ganze Mist ja auch irgendwo im Menschen steckt.

Ein Affentum.

Und mich macht es krank.

Das Internet zu dosieren, ist vielleicht eine Möglichkeit.

Oder zumindest die Quellen, aus denen man seine Informationen bezieht.

Für meine „geistige Hygiene“.

Die ist in der heutigen Zeit verdammt wichtig.

Sonst bin ich irgendwann nur noch soziophob.

Deshalb gehe ich auch zu „Selbsthilfegruppen“.

Da habe ich noch Kontakt zu „normalen Leuten“.

Sonst würde ich irgendwann eingehen.

Nehmt nicht alles im Internet so ernst.

Das ist mein Ratschlag.

Das würde ich auch meiner eigenen Tochter empfehlen.

Und munter bleiben.

Das Internet — Ein Ort der Heuchelei was originally published in Tech + Nature on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

It used to be nice.

Back then, you could talk about the weather on AOL.

Today, it has become nothing more than a “place of hypocrisy” to me.

It’s just so convenient:

Anonymous.

I can accuse other people of things while I’m no better myself.

I have nothing to fear.

But hypocrisy is nothing new.

It has existed in real life for decades.

People, like wild animals, on the internet.

Anonymity isn’t always a bad thing, though.

You can talk about “private things” without immediately having to fear consequences.

But at the same time, we are constantly tearing each other apart.

Like some bad “teen comedy.”

The internet provides the space for it.

Sometimes I wonder just how toxic the internet really is for me.

Sometimes it literally turns my stomach.

Like recently, when people made fun of someone with a disfigured face.

I have never experienced anything so disgusting.

The internet — a place of hypocrisy.

As I said: people have nothing to fear.

I used to be more in favor of a “free internet.”

But because of things like this, I have moved away from that position.

I often talk to ChatGPT about a “partially open internet.”

Something like “half anonymity.”

Maybe that could be a compromise.

And perhaps it could mean less hypocrisy.

Although this whole mess is probably somewhere inside human nature itself.

An animalistic side of humanity.

And it makes me sick.

Limiting my internet use is one possibility.

Or at least being more careful about the sources I consume.

For my “mental hygiene.”

That has become damn important nowadays.

Otherwise, I might eventually become completely socially withdrawn.

That’s why I also go to “support groups.”

At least there I still have contact with “normal people.”

Otherwise, I think I would wither away.

Don’t take everything you see on the internet too seriously.

That’s my advice.

I would give the same advice to my own daughter.

And stay cheerful.

(Translated from german)

The Internet — A Place of Hypocrisy was originally published in Tech + Nature on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The ultimate addiction machine.

I’m already sitting in front of it in the morning, reading bad news. Or feeding myself with attention machines like Facebook and other social media.

I just can’t seem to get away from it.

By now, I’m even suffering from obesity. But deep down, I’m just another ape.

When I’m lying in bed at night, I still grab my phone and quickly scroll through the news. Like a stupid moth drawn to a flame.

Maybe this is also a problem of our time.

In the self-help group I attend, fewer and fewer people are showing up. Maybe most of them simply stay at home.

In front of their computers or smartphones.

After all, you can get almost everything on the internet these days. So why even go outside?

That’s my personal problem.

Instead of moving around, I’m already glued to the screen in the morning, as I said. And then there’s my social anxiety on top of that.

I loved playing on computers when I was younger.

But I never knew they could develop into something like an “addiction machine.”

Maybe I need to kick myself in the ass again.

Go outside.

Somehow, I never managed to make that happen consistently in the past.

And here I am again, stuck in front of the screen, with my obesity.

Let’s see what the future brings.

Changing habits. I have no idea how difficult that really is.

And people are always so exhausting.

But that’s another problem.

Once again, I feel torn inside.

Maybe digital detox is also part of living a “healthier life.”

I don’t know.

But perhaps it could be an alternative to the “addiction machine.”

Fucking Computer was originally published in Tech + Nature on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Admittedly, AI is useful.
I use it every now and then.
To get a quick overview.
But it isn’t suitable for truly serious topics.
For instance, you can’t criticize Trump on ChatGPT.
I imagine it’s the same with DeepSeek and China.
A biased AI.
Who really needs that?
So the AI ​​preaches its own biased opinion.
That’s not exactly intelligent.
But many people already know that about AI.
And then there’s the reality check problem.
The fact that AI can’t verify information.
So it ends up preaching false information, too.
You still can’t avoid doing actual research for serious topics.
Which makes it less useful for serious work.
It will be interesting to see how things develop.
The internet is already being flooded with some truly stupid AI videos.
And all at an environmental cost.
It kind of disgusts me.
But as I said, AI is useful in some ways.
I think it’s particularly good for psychology.
And many people suffer from mental health issues.
It’s just that when it really matters, you should still Google it yourself.
That’s my simple advice.
A truly neutral AI would be great.
But when will something like that actually be developed?
As I said, being biased isn’t really smart.
So AI continues to spread “its opinion.”

(Google translation from German)

Is AI just a propaganda machine? was originally published in Tech + Nature on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Zugegeben, KI ist sinnvoll.

Ich benutze sie hin und wieder.

Um einen einfachen Überblick zu bekommen.

Aber für wirklich ernsthafte Themen eignet sie sich nicht.

So kann man Trump bei ChatGPT nicht kritisieren.

Ich denke, bei Deepseek und China ist es genauso.

Eine voreingenommene KI.

Wer braucht das wirklich?

Predigt die KI also ihre voreingenommene Meinung.

Wirklich intelligent ist das halt nicht.

Aber das wissen ja schon viele über KI.

Und dann auch noch das Problem mit dem Reality Check.

Das KI Informationen nicht überprüfen kann.

So predigt es auch noch falsche Informationen.

Um eine wirkliche Recherche bei ernsthaften Themen kommt man so nicht drumherum.

Zum ernsthaften Arbeiten ist sie dann auch widerrum weniger nütze.

Interessant vielleicht, wie sich das entwickelt.

Das Internet wird jetzt schon mit teilweise wirklich dummen KI-Videos überhäuft.

Und das auf Kosten der Ökologie.

Ekelt mich schon irgendwie an.

Aber wie gesagt, KI ist schon irgendwo nützlich.

Gerade bei Psychologie halte ich sie für gut.

Und viele Menschen leiden an psychischen Problemen.

Nur wenn es wirklich drauf an kommt, sollte man noch selbst googeln.

So mein einfacher Ratschlag.

Eine wirklich neutrale KI wäre gut.

Aber wann wird sowas mal entwickelt?

Wie gesagt, voreingenommen ist dann auch nicht wirklich schlau.

So verbreitet KI weiterhin „seine Meinung“.

Ist KI nur eine Propagandamaschine? was originally published in Tech + Nature on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I have spent a lot of my life dealing with computers.
Since I was a child.

I built PCs, replaced hardware, and constantly learned about new technologies. Computers were my hobby — almost my entire life.

Later, my hobby became my profession: I worked as an IT administrator in a company.

But over time, I realized something: Computers and IT can be extremely exhausting.

You have to deal with complex topics all the time. You need to work accurately, find errors, understand connections, and think deeply about details.

Sometimes it feels like you can actually see your own energy being consumed.

Because inside, I am not naturally organized. There is a kind of wildness inside me. But IT forces you to create order: checking algorithms, analyzing systems, thinking logically.

Maybe doctors experience something similar. They also have to deal with very complex systems. The difference might be that many medical procedures become deeply learned through years of experience. The knowledge becomes part of their intuition.

In IT, things are often different. There are always new systems, new problems, and new technologies.

The hardest part for me was working under pressure. When a system fails and everyone expects an immediate solution, it creates a terrible feeling: You have to perform. And when something goes wrong, you are often the person who gets blamed.

Maybe that was part of the psychology behind my burnout.

Perhaps the whole information industry is demanding in this way. You can see it on the internet as well: endless information, endless things to verify, endless questions about what is true and what is false.

Sometimes it feels like being flooded with information.

Of course, the screen itself also has a certain attraction. But in the end, it can still be exhausting.

And there is also the financial side. Computers are an expensive hobby, especially if you try to stay up to date. New hardware, new games, new technology — everything costs money.

I don’t know how long I will still be able to afford this hobby.

But somehow, it is still part of who I am.

Sometimes I wish we had more time for complex things. More time to really understand something. Not everything has to happen immediately. Not everything has to be under pressure.

Maybe then I would even consider working in IT again.

But not under the conditions I experienced before.

This is my personal experience.

After my burnout and psychosis, I learned something important: I need more “slow living.” Less speed. Less pressure.

Maybe that is what remained.

Computers — The Exhausting Hobby was originally published in Tech + Nature on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.