I'm reminded of a Ben Marcus story that appeared in Harper's a decade ago. People would sneak out of their rooms to place carved wooden likenesses of their faces at the dinner table. The wooden simulacra communed while people took their meals alone in their rooms.
No Thanks, Google. I'll Speak for Myself
11–20 of 135 posts
Re: No Thanks, Google. I'll Speak for Myself
#12I'm more worried about autocomplete doing things like...
Let's get together for [some tacos at Chipotle™️]
or
I could really use [an ice cold Coke™️ right now]
Re: No Thanks, Google. I'll Speak for Myself
#13The art of letter writing has been declining for a century. Most people don't even use email for most daily communication, but instant messaging. And it seems a lot of instant messaging boils down to pictures, emoji, memes, and short responses ("I'll be there at XXX") The ship has really already sailed on longform communication, perhaps out of laziness or cost/benefit. Part of what we're seeing with the automation go…
People have been saying the art of letter writing has been declining for a century for a century.[1]
> A hundred years ago it took so long and cost so much to send a letter that it seemed worth while to put some time and thought into writing it.
-- Percy Holmes Boynton, in 1915, 103 years ago
The pace of modern life has been accelerating since before some of our grandparents were born.
Re: No Thanks, Google. I'll Speak for Myself
#14I've noticed one thing about this feature. If a person can be responded to using this feature they don't matter. They are just some time waster bureaucrat,salesman,ect. Its actually a good feature for those of us doing real(ish?) work.
Noted that as well
Along with how this entire process could be achieved with a calendar system like we have been using for years.
The limits of the techniques involved with modern ML capabilities are known.
And these things, IMO, are extremely underwhelming given the hours being poured into them.
It can schedule haircuts. Wow. We best foist heaps more praise and stock bumps on Google. That's what this is reeeaaally about; continuing to entrench their brand by peddling novelty before the masses
Novelty, nostalgia, and sex are what make money. Those map to organic motions in human emotions.
I wonder if big corps have a deep understanding of human psychology and how to sell us on things?
Re: No Thanks, Google. I'll Speak for Myself
#15I like to be clear on whether I'm interacting with a human or a bot because different social conventions apply. If you're human, I'll treat you like one, and that means giving you some consideration at the expense of expediency. If you're a bot, let's just cut to the fucking chase. So a bot that acts like a human (with hems and haws) is just wasting my time. Ditto a human being that has been reduced to a bot by follo…
I have a friend who was participating often in psychology experiments at Stanford, and he became familiar with the whole procedure of letting the subjects believe that they were interacting with another person via a computer, when in fact they were interacting with a program (makes everything more standard and easier to analyse).
One day he participated in this "split or share" kind of experiment, and he was ruthless. Nobody's emotions would be damaged by acting nasty and never sharing with the computer program.
Turns out, it probably was actually a real person who was behind on the other side. He saw some old woman crying, coming out of some adjacent room after the experiment was over.
So, yeah, different social conventions definitely apply.
Re: No Thanks, Google. I'll Speak for Myself
#16The art of letter writing has been declining for a century. Most people don't even use email for most daily communication, but instant messaging. And it seems a lot of instant messaging boils down to pictures, emoji, memes, and short responses ("I'll be there at XXX") The ship has really already sailed on longform communication, perhaps out of laziness or cost/benefit. Part of what we're seeing with the automation go…
I’ve previously posted (to surprisingly supportive reception) about my Dad’s collection of letters from 1956-1966 while traveling some 4 million miles around the world in the navy and State Department. Some might find it interesting:
https://www.amazon.com/Dear-Mom-Odyssey-World-Travel-ebook/d...
Separately, my grandfather (on my Mom’s side) was likely one of those “elites” having been a named partner of an AM100 law Firm. His birthday cards always ended “dictated not read.” Now you to can be as detached and impersonal with your very own ai personal assistant.
Re: No Thanks, Google. I'll Speak for Myself
#17I've noticed one thing about this feature. If a person can be responded to using this feature they don't matter. They are just some time waster bureaucrat,salesman,ect. Its actually a good feature for those of us doing real(ish?) work.
I mean, everyone realized right away that the only reason this exists is for businesses which, for whatever reason, haven't yet created an API to do bookings. So that was sort of implied from the beginning.
Re: No Thanks, Google. I'll Speak for Myself
#18I see their point about "your" voice being sucked out of your emails if you use autocomplete for 90% of them. I don't really care about that though. Most people I know have moved on from using email for personal communication and only use it for business. In that situation, I don't really care if my email sounds like me or not. It's just performing a function. It's not a creative expression. It's not any different th…
Has Google said one way or another whether Smart Compose will take into account your personal writing style? For it to be acknowledged as a really great feature in practice I assume that it should.
Re: No Thanks, Google. I'll Speak for Myself
#19All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
And exactly what 'truth' are you referring to here? The 'truth' that it should be acceptable for machines to impersonate humans?
Re: No Thanks, Google. I'll Speak for Myself
#20I see their point about "your" voice being sucked out of your emails if you use autocomplete for 90% of them. I don't really care about that though. Most people I know have moved on from using email for personal communication and only use it for business. In that situation, I don't really care if my email sounds like me or not. It's just performing a function. It's not a creative expression. It's not any different th…
> Most people I know have moved on from using email for personal communication and only use it for business. That experience completely differs from mine. Maybe I just prefer email to text or Facebook messages, but the same principle applies to wherever you are writing something to friend or family. Wouldn't you get the same problem, just elsewhere? Responding to my mother's birthday wishes does seem like it's a diff…
I would gladly use it for most communication. Probably not for my spouse but for everyone else.
I am not a good representative for how the average person feels about using it for personal messaging, though. I can see why many people would be against it for that.