With the release of the Apple iPhone 4S, users are discovering Siri, a new electronic companion. Siri is voice activated software that enables you to perform tasks on your phone using natural speech.
But this application does more than simply respond to commands. It gathers information from every interaction and learns to anticipate your habits. If you ask about the weather every morning around 8AM, it will begin bringing this up on your screen whether you ask for it or not. I guess you will then have to teach it NOT to present the weather unless you ask for it. Maybe over time, you can train it to take the dog for a walk on cold winter days.
But as with any technology, it will be easy to grow dependent on Siri or, or in the case of some young people, never develop certain natural skills in the first place. At the risk of sounding like a technological Neanderthal, which I am certainly not, I have to wonder about the implications. I dare say that over time, we will see instances of people, young and old, looking at their iphone and asking “What should I do?” in an exasperated tone.
The techies and their co-conspirators in marketing seem to be on a mission to relieve us from having to exert any effort or face any adversity. Then ignorance will truly be bliss.