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* de minimis non curat praetor / the praetor does not concern himself with trifles.

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    Apple's Siri as a step towards the "Robotic Moment*"

    Siri

     

    One of the main feature of the new iPhone 4S is the deep integration of Siri, the virtual assistant software (and former iPhone app) which originally sprung from the DARPA funded PAL program.

    So far, Siri has been introduced as a voice - activated personal assistant, able to perform on call tasks such as setting alarms, scheduling meetings, giving directions, as well as googling, texting, sending and reading emails, as demonstrated in Apple's video.

     

     

    I believe that the mere referral to such technology as "personal assistance" to be a huge understatement. The implications are broader.

    Besides the practical functionality it (she?) offers the user (owner?), Siri, using natural language processing is able to give scripted answers to more open - ended questions - albeit with a sense of geeky humor:

    - "What's the meaning of life?"

    - 42*

    or:

    - "Do i make you horny?"

    - I found a number of escorts fairly close to you:*

    What's important is that this context, through Siri, the device is now able to express feelings - or rather, allow the user to more easily trick himself into such an illusion. Even considering that so far Siri does not feature a very important social signals and emotions generator layer which we would mundanely refer to as a "face" on the phone's screen, able to express herself only through voice, soon new ways of user behavior with their device are to be explored.  

    Add in the fact that the user has probably developed a very close relationship - on the verge of addiction with their phone, and it's not impossible that we will be facing interesting situtations such as unwillingness to reset the phone or restore from a backup, in fear that Siri will lose all memories she has gained from her interactions with the user - even though the user actually understands that Siri's data will be stored to and restored from the cloud and his future experience will continue unaltered.

    So far, we use a phone as a device to communicate with others. From this point on, we may increasingly start using phones as devices to relate with the devices themselves, as long as (being able to project an image of expression or emotion) we consider them alive - or animate enough for our needs.

     

    Watch more Siri in action.

     

    Finally, it will be interesting to see what Google will come up with as an equivalent - there's a reason its' mobile OS is called "Android".

     

     

    * The "Robotic Moment" is a term coined by Professor Sherry Turkle,  psychologist, sociologist and longtime researcher of the psychology of people's relationship with computers. It denotes the cultural moment when human relationship to machines becomes more - or at least as “human” than the ones humans sustain with other humans.

    Tags » B&W English Technology
    • 14 October 2011
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  • Orestis F's Space

    Information worker. Amateur Photographer. Movie-addict. News junkie. Book lover. Dog Person. Tweeting @orestisf

  • About Orestis F

    Information worker. Amateur Photographer. Movie-addict. News junkie. Book lover. Dog Person. Tweeting @orestisf

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