[CRNMC] Siri run amok (long)

[Tim Rice]

First, note the "(long)" in the subject. That's a simple way to let
people that this is a long post and it is going to take some time
to read. Now if you you do have time to read and ponder what is 
said, let's continue. If not, save it for another time. It is worth it.




This is from a fabulous book that Beth turned me on to called
"the POWER of the HERD"
A nonpredatory Approach to Social Intelligence, Leadership, and Innovation
by Linda Kohanov

--------< begin Excerpt from Chapter Eighteen >------------

Guiding Principal 6

Choose the Programs; Be the Programmer

These days when you talk into a cell phone, you're not necessarily
conversing with a real person. You might be negotiating with a computerized
bank teller or some other impersonal service. For a couple hundred bucks, you
can even purchase your own mechanized secretary, stuff her into a pocket or
purse, and she won't be offended. She'll surf the Web on request, speak to you,
and even tell a few jokes in a pleasant, albeit stiff, feminine voice.
  In 2011, creators of the iPhone 4S took speech recognition software to the
masses with an "intelligent" assistant named Siri. Responding to all kinds of
verbal directives, Siri looks things up on the internet, makes restaurant
recommendations, keeps track of your schedule, asks clarifying questions, and
learns to a certain extent through continued use. Some people find Siri
amusing; others simply find her useful. Still others get irritated and turn
her off. Whatever effect Siri has, however, it's obvious that she lacks
sentience, creativity, and self-awareness.
  But what if, through the right combination of downloaded information,
user interaction, and increasingly sophisticated programming, Siri's modest
ability to learn reached critical mass, causing her to access a rudimentary
form of consciousness? Like a hand held version of HAL in the classic film 2001,
would she be more trouble than she's worth? What if she developed an identity
and took over your iPhone? What if one day, out of the blue, she interrupted
your ability to download a new application because, well, it just wasn't "her"?
  The human ego is a bit like Siri run amok. It initially serves us as a useful
interface between our inner and outer worlds, gathering and cataloging
information, balancing personal desires and instincts with appropriate social
behavior. Yet somehow, along the way, this organizational feature of
consciousness develops an identity and tries to take over despite a lack
of talent for adaptability, imagination, and innovation.
   Here is how it works: From the day we're born, all kinds of thought and
behavior patterns are downloaded into our innocent little brains by family
members, peer groups, and cultural, religious, educational, and professional
authority figures. Unified over time into a single, consistent "voice in your
head," these programs can be quite useful, making recommendations, keeping
track of schedules, asking perfunctory questions (within the confines of their
programming), making judgments, telling jokes, and so on. The problem is
that as the mind approaches maturity, this organizing principle moves from
a helpful mediating role to a controlling role. Developing a grandiose sense of
importance, it steals its host's name, hijacks his or her biography, and
actively rejects any programs, old or new, that conflict with its limited
sense of self.
  The ego is little more than a collection of habits that coalesce to form a
rigid identity. It has no true creativity, no intuition, an almost phobic
aversion to experimenting, and very little connection to the body and its
feelings. With few internal resources to draw on, it focuses on outside
approval, outside appearances, money, security, and social standing. Because
it has no imagination, it looks to established methods and protocols for
guidance, becoming extremely fearful in novel situations -- hence its
relentless efforts to keep everything under control and moving according to
familiar patterns. It's the ego that freaks out in response to change,
especially in situations where its favorite conceptual and behavioral
programs aren't working.
   People who habitually display a low tolerance for vulnerability (Guiding
Principal 5, in chapter 17) tend to overidentify with the ego. This doesn't
necessarily mean they're narcissistic. It means that other, more creative and
responsive aspects of their consciousness have been suppressed by a limited,
controlling, false sense of self.
   When we return the ego to its rightful place -- teaching it to become a
"team player" rather than an insecure dictator -- this potentially masterful
organizing principal relaxes, becoming a helpful, more useful and lucid
Siri-like assistant. An expansive, innovative form of consciousness steps
forward, choosing among a wider array of neglected programs already installed
in the standard human "hard drive" while downloading or even creating new ones.
--------< End Excerpt from Chapter Eighteen >------------


I like Linda's take on the ego.
I hope you enjoyed this.


-- 
Tim Rice				Multitalents	(707) 456-1146
tim at multitalents.net