GUEST POST from Don: TECH with ATTITUDE!

Before we move on to Don’s post I would like wish him a happy retirement! He retired this week after a lifetime of hard work and productivity!
Congratulations, Don!

TECH with ATTITUDE!

Truth be known, several people I know have devoted too much time to bad relationships.  My guess?  You know a lot of people like that, too.  Think of all the time and emotional energy wasted trying to “make it work” when it obviously will not.  I know couples trying to “work it out” when one of them does not really care, but doesn’t want the costs (mostly financial) of ending it.

Tech is one of those bad relationships.  For a long while it was a whirlwind romance, a getting to know you, an engagement, which led to a fancy and expensive wedding…but the relationship soured a while back, huh!?!  You feel “connected” but it is clear that you are no longer in love with it.  I think I got to that point before you, because I realized I was getting less and less out of it while the providers of the tech were getting more and more.  It lost my love, then my trust.

We are not allowed as much autonomy as we used to have.  Our devices, home, car, and almost every other interaction with technology has a selfish goal to make our choices for us.  We have become the SERVANT of technology and technology no longer is hiding that fact.  It has an “Attitude.”  

Computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum released ELIZA (an elementary AI) in 1966.  All it could do was ask questions based on a person’s input.  “Why do you feel sad?,” it would ask someone who just said they were sad.  When Weizenbaum reviewed the data he was frightened.  People were DRAWN to change their lives merely by engaging with a program which SEEMED to listen to them and respond kindly.  He decided right then that allowing people to become too dependent on this new technology could be a bad thing.  Maybe he was right.

Ever been in a relationship with someone who insisted they were right all the time?  Of course they insist their way is the best way because it is “for our own good” (like the mask mandates).  My wife and I bought a newer-model car and it pushed us around until we figured out how to turn off all that junk.  For example, if we strayed too close to the white line, the car pushed us back into the path of the oncoming car we were trying to avoid “for our own good.”  

First, because something might save me time or trouble does not mean I HAVE TO use it.  Even if it is for “my” benefit, it is still “my” right to not use it.  Just because airlines exist does not mean I must fly.  Just because you can put all your personal banking data on a smartphone…it is not required.  In fact, two recent events that happened to people I know kinda’ shows that, at least for them, it was the exact wrong thing to do.

Second, I am experiencing a weird aspect of new technology:  it has this bad attitude.

Friday we had to make a long trip to Oklahoma for a funeral.  We needed speed and the most direct route.

For some time I THOUGHT it was the technology that I despised.  This trip provided a clarifying revelation.  It is not the technology that disturbs me; I’ve always been eager to adopt tech before.  That which I despise is the ATTITUDE of newer technologies.  Some additional examples follow.

We pulled up to order a McSandwich, but before I could even start to order, the robot was asking if I wanted to use their app.  If I had wanted to I would have.  I wasn’t in line to use an app, I just wanted food fast.  The attitude was clearly, “You really should download our really keen app…”  Honestly, I don’t see how using an app was going to speed up service once you are in the queue.  In fact, almost nothing speeds up the queue.  

At another attempt at food fast, we went inside to order a sandwich and fries (a simple order really).  No person was available to take the order.  So, with no training or instruction, I was doomed to do the job of the person at the counter.  It did not work.  In fact, nothing looked like it did on the menu I have always used (which was still above the counter).  After minutes of frustration, I had my choices (I think) locked in.  Then it wouldn’t allow me to pay (and there were no instructions to get to that part).  I was left with 2 options… walk away or ask for help (which is what I wanted to do in the first place).  The worker came and got us to that screen…but I still do not know how she did it…so, next time, if there ever is a “next time,” I will experience the very same frustration.  This is NOT “user friendly” and they don’t care.

What really fried my soup was the mapping feature on my “SMART PHONE.”  When I purchased the device I set up MY preferences.  But here we were on a very long trip and I noticed that we were being directed to lots of back roads and surface streets when there was an interstate route available.

Looking into my menu I found the preferences page.  Apparently, when the phone updated last time THEY decided that my preferences were inappropriate.  THEY chose new preferences for “my good.”  THEY did not neutralize certain choices back to “standard.”  NOPE!  THEY  added several “preferences” of THEIR own, including avoiding interstate routes or any route that allowed me to go above 55 mph.  That, my friends, is “a bad ATTITUDE!!!”  THEY just “re-choiced” me “for my own good!”  Their action cost 2 additional hours of travel before I figured out the evil scheme.

It follows that none of these tech “advances” seem to benefit customers.  The 2 drive-thru lanes that merge, apps, and kiosks…have not sped up service.  I just want my food…and before I age another month.  I am old enough to remember when there was a single drive-thru lane, with raspy and distorted speakers, where I could place and receive a correct order in less than 5 minutes and with a smile.  Printed maps were sometimes a few years out of date, but they never intentionally miss-led you.  

Here’s my response:  LEAVE ME ALONE!  Stop acting like you know better than me what I want or need.  Stop pretending I’m 5 and you are my MOM.  

Remember what I wrote about Weizenbaum’s ELIZA?  The concerns he had about A.I. have never been fully addressed by current programmers.  Weisenbaum found that artificial intelligence does change people.  “If a simple academic program from the ’60s could affect people so strongly, how will our escalating relationship with artificial intelligences operated for profit change us?”  If they were worried that we would resist would they be this obvious about making choices “for our benefit?”

Copyright 2023 Donald Whelpley

[PLEASE NOTE that Don is always open to discussing the thoughts and opinions he shares here and welcomes comments as shared in the comment section. He doesn’t use other social media platforms, as I do, and won’t see whatever you’d like to share with him elsewhere. ~ Sherry]

MORE OF DON’S GREAT GUEST POSTS:

~ Black Drink ~ Public Schools III ~ Public Schools II ~ Public Schools I ~ 5-Star Reviews ~ Fractions Matter! ~ Small Spoons ~ Dumpster ~
~ Weird Forgiveness III ~ Weird Forgiveness II ~ Weird Forgiveness I ~ Classified Documents ~ Future You Needs A Friend ~ Feeling Understood ~
~ Starting The New Year Right ~ Awe! Aah! Ooh! ~ Christmas As A Poor (Rich) Child ~ Bigger Problems ~ Blessing ~ Climate Change – 2 ~
~ Medical Science Too Far? ~ Gravity and Light ~ Travel Fun ~ Fascinating People: Gloria Hartman Doughty ~ Sadly Magic Words ~ Mulberries ~
~ Climate Change? ~ SPURIOUS UBIQUITOUS NOISE ~ TEW ~ Credit Card Debt ~ Insect Oddities ~ DATA ~ Cities Got Name? ~
~ The Bible Does Not Say That! ~ Too Old?? ~ Be My Guest ~ IN-CRE-MEN-TAL-ISM ~ Bad Friends & Broken Tools ~ ~ Pools Are For The Birds?? ~
~ Animals Hindering Your Financial Freedom ~ The Chicken ~ Finding The Exit ~ Allegheny Blackberries ~ Romantic Sunset At The Beach ~ 
~ Fun Facts About Carpenter Ants ~ Bad Habits ~ Doing Faith Wrong ~ Quirky! ~ Ten-Foot Trestle ~ Settling Estates ~ Living In High Horse Country ~ 
~ The Dying Generation ~