Saturday, January 26, 2019

Living In The Future

     In my kitchen is a robot, provided by and controlled by a vast commercial empire engaged in everything from selling shoes to building and flying manned spacecraft. This sophisticated artificial intelligence listens to everything I say, ready to respond immediately.

      I use it as a cooking timer.

8 comments:

B said...

But it is still listening.

Ken said...

It's an important lesson in humility for the robot. :-)

Roberta X said...

B, yes, it is. I do not usually foment revolution at home. or even utter much in the way of criticism beyond the kinds of things I post online. My (Android) phone was already listening, and I don;t find the Google AI not nearly as handy as Alexa. Tam says Apple's Siri is a close match.

If you're not sticking your cellphone in a shielded enclosure when home and using push-to-talk on your landline phones, you haven't a leg to stand on to warn of the dangers of adding one more open microphone and AI.

Paul B said...

Not for me. I do not enable microphones period. I am may not discuss the overthrow of the evil empire, but I also do not what to have something listening to ease my consumer experience.

If it was left me to be Capitalism would probably fail.

azmountaintroll said...

"Here I am, brain the size of a planet and they use me for an egg timer. Call that job satisfaction? ‘Cos I don’t.”

John in Philly said...

So far I've progressed to letting the hockey puck control one light in the addition.
We are going to add another puck in the kitchen and use it as a very smart timer.
The next step will probably be to let it control the basic microwave sold by a company named after a river in South America.

I veer between B's view and yours.


Roberta X said...

John, ours doesn't control anything. We use it as a kind of assistant to look up quick facts, tell us the weather and time things.

Monty James said...

I love Surveillance Capitalism.