[CRNMC] Siri run amok (long)

[Baile Oakes]

Thanks, Tim, will pass it on to my board members

with love,

Baile


On Sep 17, 2014, at 11:38 PM, Tim Rice wrote:

> 
> 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
> 
> 
> 
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