Coders have some robotic competition

Now comes the simultaneous boom in artificial intelligence, in other words, robot “intellects” that can do the work of the human mind — such as, perhaps, computer coding. It would seem both logical and inevitable. A perfect fit, at least on its face.

So, do we foresee the end (or the serious diminishing) of the need for human computer coding on the horizon? One is moved to speculate on such a potential outcome of this AI surge. Then again, someone has to create code for the mechanical cerebellums to get things rolling in the first place.

For that matter, if an AI experiment/function goes suddenly very wrong (dubbed “hallucination” in some wry quarters), it would be up to human coders to set things right. At least in theory.

The looming influence of robo-smarts most assuredly is not confined to computer coding. By all accounts, this rapidly-evolving, nonhuman mechanism can, and will be, applied to a wide variety of endeavors, systems and tasks.

Small wonder that San Mateo County authorities have taken steps to make sure their own unionized public employee positions will not be rendered obsolete by AI.

It’s a brave, new and, sometimes, quite worrisome world as technology that affects us all gallops forward at speeds — and with repercussions — that are difficult to comprehend.

A BEARCATS’ DROUGHT IS OVER: It’s been awhile since the varsity girls’ basketball team at San Mateo High School won an outright (unshared) league championship. A very long while.

To be precise, the year was 1977, according to all available sources, online and otherwise. That year, San Mateo had the old Mid-Peninsula League title all to itself. The Bearcats did it again over the last 10 days — 47 years later.

Head Coach Paul Carion of Pacifica, in his first season at the 122-year-old school, and his cast of young female athletes have captured the outright 2024 Peninsula Athletic League’s competitively-based Lake Division crown with an unbeaten record. It’s a significant achievement for the team and school — and a decided relief.

For some historical perspective, back in the late winter of 1976-77 (nearly a half-century ago), Jimmy Carter was getting acclimated to living in the White House, milk cost 83 cents a gallon, “Laverne and Shirley” was the nation’s top-rated TV show and, yes, Elvis was still alive.

There’s more. San Mateo County female sports historian Simi Lee, a Bearcat graduate herself, points out that her alma mater did produce one other rise to the top of a league: a tie with Aragon High School for the 1982 MPL varsity basketball championship.

Still, this year’s title belongs solely to the Bearcats. No sharing this time for the girls’ hoops program on North Delaware Street. Nice work.

A SAN CARLOS WORKAROUND: Another Peninsula town is tip-toeing its way around the state’s housing mandates designed to squeeze more multiunit condo/apartment complexes into the suburbs. Let’s tip our soiled caps for San Carlos. That community’s planning commission has given the OK to the construction of nine single-family homes and eight small accessory dwelling units on those parcels.

NO WAKE ON SUPER BOWL SUNDAY: How big was Sunday’s Super Bowl in Las Vegas? So big the family of a San Mateo man who had died recently made sure a wake for him was not held on the same day as America’s National Obsession. The late Roland Bianchi was a 49ers’ fan. To avoid a conflict with the team’s game with Kansas City, there was no wake for him Sunday; a celebration of his life was held Monday instead.  

Contact John Horgan at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com or via Facebook and Instagram. His book, “Cradle of Champions — A Selected History of San Mateo County Sports,” is available via https://historysmc.org/online-store/. All proceeds benefit the County’s Historical Association.