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At first glance and at first thought the idea of predictors and algorithms seem banal enough.\u00a0 However after reading O’Neil’s article it became abundantly clear that humans can find ways of deceiving and using things in evil ways.<\/p>\n
Similarly on first glance at my predictive text and on the doing of the task I didn’t think there was anything malicious in it per se.\u00a0 And in fact the predictive text, in the past, has often been a good help to prompt and guide some of my writing.\u00a0 An email response where I had planned to write ‘thanks’ or something along those lines…that same predictive option comes up.\u00a0 I do however think there is something profoundly wrong about predictive text.\u00a0 The times that I’ve used it I’ve wondered if the person receiving the email might think…hmm that was disingenuous because they could smell a rat – they knew that I just clicked on that nice sounding sentence from Microsoft.\u00a0 I think there is also a human connection that is lost when we don’t write out something ourselves.\u00a0 On the flip side I probably would have written the same thing.\u00a0 So if it’s the same, then is it the same?\u00a0 How do we measure the level of human connection that is lost by using predictive text?\u00a0 We think that we’re more connected together than ever because of our ability to connect via digital technology.\u00a0 But the question that I wonder is, are we actually connected in a profound human capacity or do we just believe it to be true in our minds.\u00a0 IE is it fantasy or is it reality?\u00a0 Now I suppose the same could be true of when we connect with people in ‘real’ life.\u00a0 Sometimes we connect emotionally with those people in those real moments whereas at other times we don’t for a variety of reasons.\u00a0 But an in person human connection can be messier and not as controlled as our digital connections.<\/p>\n
I couldn’t help but click on ‘thanksgiving’ at the very end of my text.\u00a0 I think that highlighting the absurdity of it through humour identifies that we need to guide our choices more than let the algorithm dictate it.<\/p>\n
For me the question that lingers at the end is, do these predictors over time take away a layer of our humanity in our interactions and what does that do to us?<\/p>\n
References<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neil, C. (2017, July 16). How can we stop algorithms telling lies?\u00a0The Observer<\/i>. Retrieved from\u00a0https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2017\/jul\/16\/how-can-we-stop-algorithms-telling-lies<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At first glance and at first thought the idea of predictors and algorithms seem banal enough.\u00a0 However after reading O’Neil’s article it became abundantly clear that humans can find ways of deceiving and using things in evil ways. Similarly on … Continue reading