October 15, 2011

A hilarious and eerie interaction with iPhone 4s.

After having some trouble understanding me, the new iPhone has gotten quite good at hearing my speech. I said, "Play 'Poses' by Rufus Wainwright" and it did. I love that song, but with Meade listening too, I was afraid it was dreary, so I told the phone "Stop playing that song." It complied.

Meade said, "There's a real person listening on the other end." So I asked the phone, "Are you a real person listening to me, like maybe in India?"

Here's the answer I got, my next statement, and the response:

P1030389

Freaky!

56 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kind of reminds me of HAL. Don't turn your back on it.

Anonymous said...

Althouse meets Turing Test.

iPhone 4S passes.

Or at least I hope it does.

traditionalguy said...

It's HAL 4s.

Don't let it control the thermostat overnight.

Chip S. said...

I wonder what's the biggest secret your phone ever kept.

Ron said...

"I'm sorry Ann...I can't do that"

Lucius said...

I have a Virgin Mobile phone, purportedly using the Sprint network for the signal.

I can go for days without getting a signal.

It's unholy, and wonderful.

rhhardin said...

It's the easter egg effect.

Amusing responses for cases thought of in advance and put in.

Carol_Herman said...

WHAT?

You know Obama is coming close to solving the JOBS program ... if this phone needs to hire people who understand American English.

ricpic said...

"Just doing my job." That must be the new "No problem."

I find it completely unnerving that more than half the time when some service worker has been helpful or just done her job and I say "Thank you" the response is "No problem." Inside I shout at her "No, you dumb fuck, the proper response is "You're welcome." But I know it's futile in our brave new world so I just shrug it off...but can't quite, not really.

Carol_Herman said...

You know, there's one way to tell if you're talking to someone in India. And, that's if they APOLOGIZE a lot!

If you don't hear "sorry" ... you're not in India.

edutcher said...

Ann, you say opinion neutral, I say wishy-washy.

PS The Blonde was having a problem with Mapquest earlier today and I told her about Ann's problems with her phone.

She said, "That's why I don't want one of those".

Titus said...

Indians are very polite.

The ones from India anyway.

Very nice people.

Peano said...

Freaky!

Oh, Yah!! For real!! That is like so totally FREAKY!!!!

caseym54 said...

Hmmm ... Turing defined artificial intelligence being where you could not say if the responder was human or not. What can you do to prove it one way or the other? See what gibberish does? A human would say "That's gibberish."

Ann Althouse said...

"... and I told her about Ann's problems with her phone."

Better tell her the problem is over. The phone learned to understand me. It's amazingly good now.

Wince said...

The 20 answers inside a Magic 8-Ball are:

● It is certain
● It is decidedly so
● Without a doubt
● Yes – definitely
● You may rely on it
● As I see it, yes
● Most likely
● Outlook good
● Signs point to yes
● Yes
● Reply hazy, try again
● Ask again later
● Better not tell you now
● Cannot predict now
● Concentrate and ask again
● Don't count on it
● My reply is no
● My sources say no
● Outlook not so good
● Very doubtful
● Just doing my job

10 of the possible answers are affirmative, 5 are negative, and 5 are non-committal. Using the Coupon collector's problem in probability theory, it can be shown that it takes, on average, 72 questions of the Magic Eight Ball for all 20 of its answers to appear at least once.

Anonymous said...

Small Southern California College, 1978. Freshman Rhetoric, a class required for all 120+ students in the freshman class.

A friend, JY, IIRC, submits a paper consisting of his interactions with Eliza.

The professor, not realizing Eliza is a simple scripted chatterbot intended as parody and available to all on our DECSYSTEM 10, awards him with an A.

Appalled, we stick the student's head down a toilet and flush.

Elsewhere, a 28 year old nubile Ann Althouse is pondering a career switch. (She decided on law.)

pm317 said...

Freaky only if you don't know how it works..

pm317 said...

Titus said...
----------

Why, thank you!! I consider myself polite and nice.

pm317 said...

27183 said...

-------------

Good one!

coketown said...

"Siri, please tell Ann Althouse that Siri-blogging is one step below cat-blogging."

"I don't understand 'sea ribs logging.' Should I search the web?"

"Piece of shit."

I'm Full of Soup said...

Does Meade feel like a 3rd wheel yet?

Kensington said...

"I find it completely unnerving that more than half the time when some service worker has been helpful or just done her job and I say "Thank you" the response is "No problem." Inside I shout at her "No, you dumb fuck, the proper response is "You're welcome." But I know it's futile in our brave new world so I just shrug it off...but can't quite, not really."

Good lord, what's wrong with saying "no problem?"

Moose said...

I sorta suspect most people would fail a Turing test...

Moose said...

Kensington: The same thing as when you ask someone: "Do you want more mashed potatoes?" and they say, "No, I'm fine." I normally say - "That's good - do you want more mashed potatoes?"

ricpic said...

"No problem" denies "Thank you." It shuts off the dialog that "You're welcome" has with "Thank you." A civility is short-circuited. Civility. Civilization. Get it?

Kensington said...

No, it's ridiculous. "No problem" is just another way of saying "you're welcome." Anyone who gets bent out of shape about it doesn't deserve the civility they think it denies.

"I'm fine" is an acceptable answer to "do you want more [x]?"

If you know what they mean (and you do), then why make a fuss about it?

Basically, lighten up, Francis.

Kensington said...

You seem like a real joy, ricpic. Joy. Joyous. Get it?

Sal said...

Ann, tell it: "Thanks for being a worthless piece of shit." See if it comes back with: "Just doing my job."

Carnifex said...

Clarke's Law states that any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic. With particles now traveling FTL can we be far from reaching that point? If you are making a time machine but are stumped with some design flaw, but you come back in time with a working version to show yourself how to fix it did yo really do it?

That's an easy one. Here's a better one...Einstein states that as we near the speed of light our mass increases. That's why we can't have FTL, more mass requires more energy to push us faster which gives us more mass etc... so if I were on another planet in another solar system and I left that planet for Earth traveling at some portion of C I should get more massy. But from the point of view of the Universe I and the Earth are moving towards each other at 1/2 the portion of C. Does that mean I only get 1/2 massier along with the Earth getting twice as massy?

I'm Full of Soup said...

Ricpic- I laughed at your comment because I think just like you when I hear "no problem".

In the south, they tend to respond "uh huh" which I have been told can really means FU. Heh.

F said...

This does not bode well, Ann. More importantly, it does not bode well, Meade. She's talking to her iPhone. No, actually, she's conversing with her iPhone. How long before she stops talking to you? Is this how that wonderful love story runs off the rails? "Just doing my job."

Banshee said...

"No problem" uses exactly the same concept as "De nada," "C'est rien," and "Think nothing of it." It is the politeness of "Mi casa su casa", except in this case, it is "All my time and trouble really mean nothing in comparison to your happiness. Do not trouble yourself with whatever it may have cost me; I am glad to do it."

John Althouse Cohen said...

"You're welcome" has actually started to seem more inappropriate and awkward than "No problem."

Language evolves. We wouldn't be writing in English if it didn't.

John Althouse Cohen said...

"C'est rien,"

Actually, the French equivalent of "You're welcome" is "De rien" — literally, "Of nothing." (They may also say "C'est rien" — "It's nothing.")

Anonymous said...

Disagree. "No Problem" implies it was a problem overlooked. Sort of like the presumptuous phrase "Thanks in advance". As my kids now say since watching Fat Albert on Netflix...NO CLASS...!

Jum said...

So you thought outsourced American jobs was enough to keep India at full employment, eh?

Chip S. said...

"No problem" is completely appropriate after someone thanks you for doing them a favor. When someone is thanking you for doing your job well, it's not so appropriate, because they're paying for you to do whatever it is you did for them. They're extending a common courtesy, and replying "You're welcome" indicates that you understand that.

Anonymous said...

Ok I'll give you that - too a point - and only cuz I like fennec fox.

Freeman Hunt said...

It could be another person on the other end. My husband uses some kind of memo service that transcribes the memos to email. If you turn on the higher accuracy option, somebody somewhere does listen in and checks the robo transcription.

And the service is free. I have no idea how that works.

Henry said...

Meet the new Slumdog Millionaire.

Wayne Richards said...

Kensington, I'm with you all the way. Ricpic sound anally DKE.

Sorin said...

"The phone learned to understand me. It's amazingly good now.”

That is amazing, a phone that understands Lawyerese.

jamboree said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ravi said...

First of all, Ann, I am appalled that you actually used another phone/camera to take a picture of you iPhone4s with that message. Here's a tip for you on the iPhone. Press the on/off button(top right) and home button simultaneously and release it. You will get a screenshot that's cleaner without all those reflections, case, etc. It will be saved in your pictures folder and you can post that picture directly from the iPhone.

I don't know if Siri will tell you that but I am from India and I am just doing my Job :-)

ottowt said...

checkout this blog dedicated to Siri's unusual responses: http://shitthatsirisays.tumblr.com/

you might want to upload your Siri query..

Jana said...

I tried saying "Thank you for not lying" and I got "Your wish is my command" back. Cute!

Then I asked it to play Sara Bareilles and it stubbornly only wants to play Sarah Jarosz. And then I asked for Fountains of Wayne, and it played "Something Changed" (by Pulp).

Oh Siri. We have some work to do!

Ron Moses said...

@ricpic: And apparently the proper response to "No problem" is "No, you dumb fuck!" Who knew?

Anonymous said...

Ask Siri to "open theod bay doors" and see what it says.

Seriously, it has a response for that question.

Dan said...

Bertram Pincus: Dr. Prashar - you're from a... scary country, right?

[pause]

Dr. Prashar: I'm from India...

Bertram Pincus: But, you're not... Christian, like us?

[pause]

Dr. Prashar: I'm a Hindu...

Bertram Pincus: Yeah. So, um, how would you extract information from a hostile?

Dr. Prashar: Well... as a... Hindu person... I would just... ask him... politely...

Unknown said...

"Freaky!"

No. Just programming.

Unknown said...

ricpic --

"No problem" denies "Thank you." It shuts off the dialog that "You're welcome" has with "Thank you." A civility is short-circuited. Civility. Civilization. Get it?

Only if one does not understand the concept of synonym.

Jana said...

I got a hilarious response to "Beam me up, Siri."

Kirk Parker said...

Ravi,

Thanks for trying, but the way Althouse did it we get to see the actual phone in the picture.

Ann Althouse said...

Ha ha. Thanks, Ravi.

veni vidi vici said...

Seriously, what the hell are "theod bay doors"? Sounds like a form of crotch rot or something.