California Dreaming
Part Two
Ubiquitous “Siri”
James
R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.
June
26, 2015
“SIRI”
as GOD IN THE MACHINE
Siri is
a part of Apple Inc.'s iOS which works as
an intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator.
The
feature uses a natural language user interface to
answer questions, make recommendations, and perform actions by delegating
requests to a set of Web services such as Wolfram|Alpha.
The
software, both in its original version and as an iOS feature, adapts to the
user's individual language usage and individual searches (preferences) with
continuing use, and returns results that are individualized.
The
name Siri is Scandinavian, a short form of the
Norse name Sigrid
meaning "beauty" and "victory", and comes from the intended
name for the original developer's first child.
Siri
was originally introduced as an iOS application available in the App
Store by Siri, Inc., which was acquired by Apple on April 28,
2010. Siri, Inc. had announced that their software would be available for BlackBerry and
for phones running Android, but all development efforts for
non-Apple platforms were cancelled after the acquisition by Apple.
Siri
has been an integral part of iOS since iOS 5 and was
introduced as a feature of the iPhone 4S on
October 14, 2011.
Dictation
powered by Siri was added to the third generation iPad with the release
of iOS 5.1.1 in May 2012; full Siri support was added with iOS 6. The 5th
generation iPod touch, released in October 2012, also gained Siri support.
Siri
is also integrated into Apple Watch's watchOS, and can
be activated by holding down the Digital Crown or by saying "Hey,
Siri".
THE
MAKING OF A BELIEVER
My
wife, Betty, had never been to Los Angeles, and I hadn’t been back there in more
than thirty years. So, we were traveling
blind were it not for the accompaniment of “Siri.”
Readers
of my works know I am not an electronic nerd, but I must say I am frighteningly
impressed with “Siri.”
It seemed as if “God”
were looking down on us, guiding our every remote move, changing directions,
stopping at the appropriate stop light, making the correct turns, getting on
the appropriate Interstate ramps at a multiplex of interleafing cloverleaf
junctions, and then traveling through a labyrinth of streets to our
destination.
In this case, it was a lovely tiled roof corner house in a poster board
home out of a House and Garden magazine. It was Hemet, California in the desert, and the residence of my sister, Janice, and her husband,
David Ewing.
Given
this excellent guidance system, it would be of little avail were Beautiful
Betty not such an excellent driver. I don't drive much anymore except to the library, the gas station, the supermarket and the barber shop.
CALIFORNIA
DREAMING
California
has a population the equivalent of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark
combined, and a population of motor vehicles that must approach nearly one to
every member of that society.
Californians
have no choice but to drive to everywhere they go.
Perhaps this explains why they are the best
drivers I have ever laid eyes on, as well as the most courteous encountered in
the United States.
Living in Europe, I
thought no drivers could top European drivers in courtesy and competency, but
I believe California drivers do.
Since
the automobile is so critical to the lifestyle, we did not encounter a single
accident and only two occasions where the driver was obviously having vehicle trouble
and we drove hundreds of miles and blended into traffic of thousands of
cars.
Moreover, and this was something
of a shock to us, Californians obey the speed limits of the highways.
WORK
AND LIFE IN THE AGE OF “SIRI”
Clearly, Mapquest,
Triple A, and other roadway guidance systems are anachronistic.
This is 2015 and no doubt “Siri” will be
replaced by something electronically even more sophisticated. It is inevitable.
Man’s
genius in on display and we are increasingly moving into the “Age of
Automation” as well as the “Age of Information.”
This
is not new as these prototypes have been in the works for more than half a
century.
They are now however becoming common to
us all, even to those of us who have little clue as to the technology behind
the magic.
We
are well into “the Second Machine Age” with relentless technological breakthroughs
certain to transform everyday life for us all.
The question that has to be asked, when it comes to work, the workplace
and the worker, subjects dear to my heart and the genre that I have dedicated
much of my energy, will humans go the way
of the horses?
The
dystopian novels of George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” (1949) and Yevgeny Zamyatin’s
“We” (1921) predicted mindless totalitarianism and the impact it would have on 20th
century life.
We have no equivalent forewarning novels that have captured our imagination as did these works in the current robotic generated dystopian age.
As
a consequence, we go blindly into the future as advanced economics become
increasingly automated and digitized, and machines continue to replace the
blessed and challenging occupations of mankind.
What will he be? What will he do?
Mark
my words as problematic as the future appears to be there will be a religious renaissance
that will rival that of 2,000 years ago. We don't need a messiah. We need a pragmatist that will help us answer these proffered questions.
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