Title: How Honest Should Smart Devices Be?
Context: What should your “smart device” say when you ask it if those jeans make you look fat?
Synopsis: Honesty is in reality, a gray area. To understand how people truly interact one must understand that absolute “truth” is essentially a myth. Not necessarily in a bad “bald-faced lying” type of way, but more in a “greasing the wheels of polite society with a few bent truths” manner. Machines do not understand this nuance. As smart as this new generation of smart devices are, they cannot politely fudge the truth to the person calling you. You are either there or you’re not. Sure you can tell the phone to send the person to voicemail etc. but why can’t it say that your kid is sick or you’re in the shower or you just took a job in Brazil and won’t be back for 3-6 years? Ah well, maybe black and white truth is a good thing after all. Because not only is my smartphone really smart, it also looks great in those jeans.
Best Bit: “Really, are we asking too much of smart devices? Can they ever be aware of intent, of consequence, of when we say “what the hell” and take part in behaviors that may be potentially destructive?”
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