Take It From Whomever

                                                                                 

Hand-held electronic devices have been around for over seventeen years. I know because I looked it up.ⁱ The technology has advanced rapidly in that short period – rapidly enough that the machines are beginning to act like Hal.ⁱⁱ A front-page article in yesterday's New York Timesⁱⁱⁱ extolled the virtues of “Google Now” and programs and “apps” like it. ^iv

With these programs, we don't have to remember where we're going or when to leave. The device will tell remind us.^v It will even provide a route map, and updates, and alternative routes as up-to-the-minute traffic conditions dictate. GPS capability will help us know the best route to wherever we want to go. But more than that. The device will tell us where we want to go. In part that information will be based on what we have scheduled; in part it will be based on where we've gone in the past. Intrusive, but tolerable. After all, advertisements are currently based on whatever we have told our computers we want^vi as well as previous purchasing behavior. But the new function – the presentation of what we want, in what appears to be a non-advertising format – will be offered in a way that suggests that it's what we wanted all along.^vii    Suppose, however, that the message is inserted by an outside party.  We may question it at first, but after we've seen it enough times,^viii and among other items that we know to be genuine, it will appear to be factual itself. Here, for example, are the messages that might be found on the screens of four family members.^ix

Husband:

1. Take out the garbage. Because of the holiday tomorrow, the next collection will be Thursday. (Actually you'd be better off taking it out Wednesday night at about 10 o'clock so you won't be delayed Thursday morning.)

 

2. Traffic to work today is light, and you shouldn't anticipate any delays. Leave a little earlier than your usual time since your car is low on gas. Go at 8:00 AM. The best price is at the Cardinal station and the fastest way is to follow the Gingko Avenue route (press Here for map).

3. Tomorrow is Election Day. (Garbage won't be collected. Don't put it out tomorrow.) Don't forget to vote. (For location of your voting place and a map, press Here.) As our President says – and he's been doing a good job – it's everyone's responsibility.

4. You have a meeting with Mr. Aldrich at 11 AM. He thinks it's about assigning you additional work, but I've learned from his e-mail which I check periodically that he's having an affair with Ms. Cartright. I suspect that it will be worth a promotion if you don't let his wife and kids know about it.

5. There's no cake left. Pick up some on the way home. You usually use “Cream of the Top Bake Shop” and it's on your usual route (though parking can be difficult), but word has it that “Taste of Delight” has better cakes. It's at the intersection of Adams and Pecan. Here's the best way to get there. (Remember that French pastries are usually better than Italian.) It will only add a couple of minutes to the trip home and your wife will be grateful.

6. Joey has an important baseball game tonight at 8:30. It's at his school and you promised you'd be there. (You can deduct the cost of travel from your taxes the way you've always done.) I'll remind you at 8 PM.

Wife:

1. The school bus will be late today. It's a teacher-conference day. Look for it at about 10 AM.

2. I have some great recipes for dinner (Here) but there's no veal in the refrigerator and no bread crumbs in the pantry according to my survey this morning. A good place to shop for them is Great Fare on Lincoln Street. Their prices are very good today. It's probably best if you start cooking at about 4 o'clock and serve at 6:30. Your husband is going to Joey's baseball game tonight and I'm reminding him at 8 PM.

3. You wanted to have your hair done today. The are openings at Georgio's at noon and 1 PM. Let me know which you prefer and I'll take care of the details. Just press this button.

4. Don't forget to vote tomorrow! You're an enrolled Free Thinking Party member so I'm sure you're aware that President Fraterno says, voting is everyone's responsibility. And you know he's right.

5. There's a great dress sale going on today at “Beauty and the Best.” You should have time after your hair is done and before you start dinner.

6. “My Secret Love” is on the tube tonight at 9 PM. Joey will be out but Jennifer will be home and you don't want her seeing this episode, so you better record it.

As for the children, here are the messages they might get:

Jennifer:^x

 

1. Don't forget the flower bracelet that Bill gave you. He'll be coming to college information day today to tell all the seniors about his experiences at Middletown College and he'll be looking.

 

2. According to BareMySoul.com, there's a great rock concert next Thursday at the amphitheater. Brass Knuckles will be there and it'll be hard to get tickets if you wait until the last minute. How many do you want? I'll order them. Just press this button.

 

3. You started a paper on the Music of the French Revolution, but you seem to have stalled. Not to worry. There are several non-traceable papers on line that should do the trick and get you a good grade. Let me know here if you're interested.

 

4. Remind your parents to vote tomorrow. The President is running for reelection and everyone on his ticket will support him. When you speak to your father, ask him to get you some French pastry. You'll love it while you're reading.

 

5. Don't let your parents see the book Wendy lent you. They'll take it away and you'll probably be grounded. And they'll probably call her parents.

Joey:^xi 

 

1. Make sure you have your homework with you. Mr. Thornton has threatened to keep all those who don't have it out of the game tonight. It doesn't matter if it's right or wrong as long as you have it. By the way, the game is at 8:30 and your father will take you. I've told him that I'll remind him but you should remind him too. The more people who annoy him, the harder it will be for him to ignore them.

 

2. When you're playing “Death of the Invaders” with Frankie, press #213%411. That will lower all of all of his weapons, spells, and defenses by one level – and he won't know about it.

 

3. Voting is important for everyone and you should never miss the chance. Remember that whatever government is in office was supported by the majority in the last election and, when you're old enough, you should vote for them to get another term. That's what democracy is all about.

 

4. You really ought to try the hamburgers at Herbie's. All the kids love them. Just tell your parents they're organic (but don't worry, they're not) and they'll pay the extra cost for them.

It all boils down to the idea that there's something to be said for modern technology and artificial intelligence,^xii but the threat of too much centralization of information and too much “guidance” based on what should be our private information, is cause for concern. We're documenting far more than is necessary and we should not be surprised if others learn how to access and use it. Each time you enter information or otherwise use your computer or other device, you're feeding the beast. If your comfortable with that, it's fine.^xiii

However you should remember that when we give others the opportunity to see our prejudices, preferences, and weak spots, it's only a matter of time before they use them for their own benefit. And that may be against us. Big Brother is always looking, whether we know it or not, and when he learns more about us he learns how to control us.

On the other hand, however, doing as we're told is far easier than thinking.

Next episode:  “When In Rome” – The theory of relativity.
   

i      First of all, please pardon the terminal preposition. Next, note http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_(PDA) for further information about the Palm Pilot – the first popular model of the evil devices.

ii     2001 by Arthur Clarke

iii    Yes. I wrote this a while back and just put it at the end of the queue. No one's going to do anything about it anyway. It's inevitable.

iv  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/30/technology/apps-that-know-what-you-want-before-you-do.html

v      It creates an up to the moment to-do list of things you plan, or others want you to do. The “others” may be the government or commercial interests, and they present messages formulated for them by psychologists, economists, and other experts at manipulation.

vi     We call them “wish lists.”

vii    Whether we know it or not.

viii   As Joseph Goebbels said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” In other words, tell a lie often enough, and discredit or hide the actual facts, and the lie becomes a “truth” that is the greatest friend of the state (or advertising firm that tells it).

ix     The messages are given in a pattern corresponding to American societal “norms,” but shouldn't be considered as reflecting my own stereotypes. Their use is only intended to give me the opportunity to group messages in one possible way. The roles are not fixed and the jobs and messages related to them may be sent to other members of the family. As responsibilities change, so will the messages.

x      I've imagined a mid-teens girl for this role, but the messages will be dependent on the information that the “system” has about her.

xi     Joey is about eleven. Only the computer knows for sure.

xii    In fact there's a lot to be said for a tool that has access to the information it would take a library to hold. As long as that information is factual and not turned into propaganda.

xiii   It's not fine for me. When a machine knows more about me than I do, I get nervous.