"Artificial intelligence has its own merits, but it would be a sad day and sad world if we were to mortgage our ability to think, our ability to make intelligent and, moreover, sensitive choices," Justice further said. (AP)

Bombay High Court Judge Warns of Social Media as a ‘Tool of Mass Distraction’

Justice Mahesh Sonak of the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court stated on Saturday that social media and mass media have become a significant source of distraction, but no significant actions have been taken to address this issue. Speaking at a lecture series called ‘GRK-Law Talks’ at G R Kare College of Law in Margao town, Justice Sonak also expressed his preference for remaining uninformed about various matters by avoiding news consumption, as he believes it is preferable to being misinformed.

“We live in an age today where we admire and praise thinking machines like computers and smartphones. But we are very suspicious or even wary of people who try to think,” he said. “Artificial intelligence has its merits, but it would be a sad day and a sad world if we lend our ability to think, our ability to make intelligent and moreover sensitive choices to a machine or an algorithm, however intelligent it may be,” Justice Sonak said.

“We should not want to atrophy our ability to think so that there is no difference between man and machine. We cannot, or at least we should not, allow humanity to be robbed of its humanity,” he added.

Justice Sonak said that this ability to think clearly, independently and fearlessly would enable a student to sift, distinguish and if necessary reject ideas and ideologies that are constantly generated by the tools of the mass media and that are growing every hour. “A few decades ago, the world was at war against weapons of mass destruction – weapons of mass destruction. Today, social media or mass media have become weapons of mass disruption, but still there is no concerted effort to combat them,” he assessed.

The judge said that he has, in his own way, been on a “news diet” for almost four years through an experiment. “If I don’t read or see the news, I realize that I am ignorant of many things. But I think this is better than being wrong. So the choice is often between ignorance and misinformation,” he added.

Vidya Vikas Academy Principal Nitin Kunkolienkar, Vice President Pritam Moraes and Principal Doretti Simoes were present at the event.

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