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OMG SOMEONE IS LISTENING
Apr. 27th, 2019 07:21 pmhttps://gizmodo.com/the-terrible-truth-about-alexa-1834075404/amp
Basically, the author of this piece points out that, if we do not do anything to stop it, the future could be a world in which we were constantly being listened to everywhere we go by microphones that try to figure out what we want and how we want it and then sell it to us.
I, personally, find this idea moderately charming. I want to understand the parenting / childhood environment that caused the author and these researchers to fear someone listening to them and then trying to get them what they want. This may be the most solid argument ever against “helicopter parenting”, a concept I am still quite shaky on.
Look, I hope we all know by now that sometimes the devices hear a wake word when one was not actually intended, listen for a while, and only very belatedly go, ooops, never mind. And the giant computer system that does the processing hangs onto a copy of whatever was recorded for an indefinite period of time. And, conceivably, if you are unlucky, you could hit other action words that cause parts of what we say to be acted on in ways we did not intend. Murphy. Murphy, is an Elder God and will not be denied blood sacrifice.
In general, tho, if the fear is that some Giant Computational Device that Hears All, Knows All and Sells and Delivers All is going to listen to me and deliver what I want and charge my credit card for the privilege, I am ... struggling to feel that fear in the way that I think I am supposed to.
Basically, the author of this piece points out that, if we do not do anything to stop it, the future could be a world in which we were constantly being listened to everywhere we go by microphones that try to figure out what we want and how we want it and then sell it to us.
I, personally, find this idea moderately charming. I want to understand the parenting / childhood environment that caused the author and these researchers to fear someone listening to them and then trying to get them what they want. This may be the most solid argument ever against “helicopter parenting”, a concept I am still quite shaky on.
Look, I hope we all know by now that sometimes the devices hear a wake word when one was not actually intended, listen for a while, and only very belatedly go, ooops, never mind. And the giant computer system that does the processing hangs onto a copy of whatever was recorded for an indefinite period of time. And, conceivably, if you are unlucky, you could hit other action words that cause parts of what we say to be acted on in ways we did not intend. Murphy. Murphy, is an Elder God and will not be denied blood sacrifice.
In general, tho, if the fear is that some Giant Computational Device that Hears All, Knows All and Sells and Delivers All is going to listen to me and deliver what I want and charge my credit card for the privilege, I am ... struggling to feel that fear in the way that I think I am supposed to.