All joking aside, or all joking inside?

The doghousediaries comic has a stroke of brilliance in having Siri refer to Steve Jobs as God; though I’d say he isn’t that far off because Apple in a stroke of god-like brillance took a software application - Siri - and made what could have been a dry, rote, voice-to-text communication assistant and instead added a spark of life to it by integrating humor. 

I have a lurking suspicion that if Gates or Google had been first to create something like Siri it would have been just like a GPS mixed with SAM (disregard how awesome this SAM example is.. that was crowdsourced).

Leave it to the almighty foresight of Jobs to make some of the biggest forays into AI just by making us humans - the user - careful how we interact with Siri because we may not always get the answer we are searching for - especially if we mess with Siri (her?). 

The Creators in their great wisdom know that humor is the way to bridge all controversy and apprehension. Done incorrectly and Siri is cheesy and would therefore suck - regardless of actual personal assistant qualities (pretty much how it would work for a real life assistant). 

Glimpses were first seen when this WIRED article discovered some hilarious Easter eggs within Siri. And we thought “Wow! that’s pretty cool the engineers programmed in some hilarious pop culture/science fiction Easter Eggs.” References to 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy garnering ironic responses of “Awesome! I love technology!”

But we are human. We love novel things, especially when they are the beautiful Christmas morning wrapping paper around an incredible piece of technology. 

But, as more and more ‘Easter Eggs’ were revealed with multiple responses to the same questions cataloged in this at times hilarious tumblr, SHIT THAT SIRI SAYS, maybe these aren’t accidental and there is no way The Creators could program this many hilarious responses. 

So this began the little voice in our ears that whispered: is Siri a living breathing self-thinking automaton slaved to our personal whims of finding Donuts and movie showtimes?

Well, yes and no. It is still a piece of technology slaved to the constraints of our iPhones and iPads (for now) but it is connected to an ever increasing data network and with things being pushed more and more to the Cloud (iCloud) things are uncomfortably approaching Skynet level.

And when the Terminators are finally overpowering the last shreds of humanity we can look back on Siri the great-great-great-grandmother to the T-1000 about to crush our skulls and see that the maniacal grinning skull above us is laughing at the same joke that she had us laughing to back in 2011. 

Is it really a good thing that we are relying more and more on technology?

This is the key, and any would-be-pundits attempting to push this point to anyone who would potentially listen is too busy laughing a the Shit Siri is saying for them to hear. This is the Genius of Jobs; smoothly integrating a paradigm shifting piece of technology into society by making it funny. Yeah T-1000 you are allowed to laugh.

Humor was the trojan-horse that slipped past all the techno-aversion that exists today. Everyday more and more people freak out over the privacy settings being altered on Facebook but the more encompassing and far-reaching piece of technology that deserves some scrutiny sidled by with a wink and a shimmy. 

There is probably some societal explanation for this stemming from Huxley and infotainment but SIRI keeps returning me Cosby show clips. 

Earlier in the semester I posted a video showing what Apple envisioned the future would be like in 2011 - with a series of vignettes from 1987. Well with the looming release of the iPhone 5 it seems that future has finally arrived. And exactly when Apple predicted.

In my previous post I mentioned Apple purchased Siri a mobile assistant app and it seems from the latest rumors of the iPhone 5 release, its greatest feature will be the fully realized version of Siri’s technology: a new iPone app called Assistant. 

Assistant is set to replace and expand upon Apple’s previous Voice Control app and will be activated by users by holding down the home button. All users need to do is simply speak into their iPhone either asking for information or delivering a command, and presto! Assistant will respond aloud with your answer as well as organize everything in a easy to follow “conversation view” that appears as a back-and-forth text conversation. 

According to 9to5Mac it will have the ability to: “send text messages (complete with read-back functionality to ensure the content is correct), send e-mails, set reminders, find directions, and even answer math questions, thanks to integration with Wolfram Alpha’s “knowledge engine.”

In addition to the Assistant application, Apple is allegedly releasing a Diction app that allows users to send text messages via text-to-speech as well as a “Find My Friends” feature where you will be able to ask Assistant where your friends are located and if they are registered with the service, Assistant will track them down. 

This is an incredible moment in time for our collective Digital History. It marks the mass shift of our culture fully embracing the ‘just-in-time-living’ concept. Now with everything on demand and technology reaching the point where it can help us operate with increased efficiency and with real-time information gathering, it will effect a profound social change. Gone will be planning and much forethought into day-to-day chores. We will simply get up and go. With Assisstant we will only need our trusty iPhone 5 and we will be set to conquer the world. 

Apple was on dead on the money. It’s crazy but the future is now.

So… when will Apple predict AI? Because we have just about reached Minority Report, but I’m holding out for Blade Runner. 

Today in class we discussed the future of mobile devices acting as personal assistants with increased AI that will function to make us act in real-time coined ‘just-in-time-living.’

Seems apple was even ahead of the game with this conceptual vignette from 1987 for the Apple Knowledge Navigator. This is Apple’s vision of the future, approximately 2011. It is interesting that Apple bought Siri a mobile assistant app in Spring 2010. One step closer to making their vision of the future come true, though hopefully without the passive aggressive device personality.