The Creepiness That is Alexa/Siri/Google: voice assistants

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Re: The Creepiness That is Alexa/Siri/Google: voice assistan

Postby Elvis » Sat Apr 13, 2019 3:18 am

An acquaintance told me she unplugged her Alexa when it started laughing in the middle of the night. \<]
“The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.” ― Joan Robinson
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Re: The Creepiness That is Alexa/Siri/Google: voice assistan

Postby stickdog99 » Sat Apr 13, 2019 6:37 pm

This New Year's Eve, I attended a party at a friend's house that I do not often visit. Their sound system was somehow controlled by Alexa, so I was treated to the bizarre spectacle of an all ages competition for the attention and understanding of the all-powerful Alexa. The Death Race 2020 that ensued was not just your normal DJ-control battle, but instead a sincere fight for the approbation of the Great Goddess Alexa.

Anyone capable enunciating a song so well or so well-known that Alexa deigned to play it was rewarded with DJ rights. All those incapable of this feat lost their turns to DJ based on Alexa's omnipotent disapproval of their non-Grammy award winning song requests. This resulted in several excruciating fits of pique from young and old alike as well as many instances of warm and intimate rapport between Alexa and each putative DJ who managed to "Mother, may I" successfully. Alexa is apparently merciful to her favored subjects, but woe to those she disfavors.
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Re: The Creepiness That is Alexa/Siri/Google: voice assistan

Postby DrEvil » Sat Apr 13, 2019 9:22 pm

Elvis » Sat Apr 13, 2019 9:18 am wrote:An acquaintance told me she unplugged her Alexa when it started laughing in the middle of the night. \<]


This happened to a lot of people a couple of years ago, to the point where Amazon was "looking into it". I hope at least it was an insane maniacal laugh.

I've always been the technology freak in my family, but the last ten years or so, ever since the first iPhone, the tech has gone from "enthusiast" to "everyone". I have a computer and an iPad with the wifi turned off that I use as a reader, but my non-techie brother and his family are wired 24/7. They're on facebook all the time, they have laptops, iPads, smartphones, an Alexa, a smart TV, smart watches, a smart thermostat and a friggin' weather station, all online. There's not a second of their life that's not measured and logged to remote servers in some way, and it doesn't bother them at all because they don't see the downsides unless it impacts them directly.

When something bad does happen, like the Equifax breach, they moan about it over dinner and on facebook for a couple of days and then forget all about it and go back to business as usual. They'll nod their heads when I rant about security, but they just don't care enough to do anything about it. To them it's 99% upside and 1% downside, and they can live with that, and I think that's how the majority of people see it. It's just the new normal.

For teenagers it's not even the new normal, it's just the normal. They've never known anything else. To them there's never been a time when pocket computers with touch screens, voice assistants and always online didn't exist.
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