{"id":5064,"date":"2014-09-10T12:09:31","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T18:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/?p=5064"},"modified":"2014-09-12T14:41:46","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T20:41:46","slug":"speak-algorithm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/?p=5064","title":{"rendered":"Speak, algorithm"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Lost in yesterday’s\u00a0coverage of the Apple Watch was a small software feature that, when demonstrated on the stage of the Flint Center, earned brief but vigorous applause from the audience. It was the watch’s ability to scan\u00a0incoming messages and suggest possible responses. The Verge’s live-blogging crew were wowed<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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The example Apple presented was pretty rudimentary. The incoming message included the question\u00a0“Are you going with Love Shack or Wild Thing?” To which the watch suggested three possible answers: Love Shack, Wild Thing, Not Sure. Big whoop. In terms of natural language processing, that’s like Watson with a lobotomy.<\/p>\n

But it\u00a0was\u00a0just a taste\u00a0of\u00a0a much more sophisticated “predictive text” capability, called QuickType, that Apple has built into the\u00a0latest version of its\u00a0smartphone\u00a0operating system. “iOS 8 predicts what you’ll say next,” explains<\/a> the company. “No matter whom you’re saying it to.”<\/p>\n

Now you can write entire sentences with a few taps. Because as you type, you’ll see choices of words or phrases you’d probably type next, based on your past conversations and writing style. iOS 8 takes into account the casual style you might use in messages and the more formal language you probably use in Mail. It also adjusts based on the person you’re communicating with, because your choice of words is likely more laid back with your spouse than with your boss.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, this may all turn out to be a clumsy parlor trick. If the system isn’t adept at mimicking a user’s writing style and matching it to the intended recipient\u00a0\u2014 if it doesn’t nail both text and context \u2014\u00a0the predictive-text feature will rarely be used, except for purposes of making “stupid robot” jokes. But if the feature\u00a0actually turns out to be “good\u00a0enough” \u2014 or if our conversational expectations devolve to a point\u00a0where the automated messages feel\u00a0acceptable \u2014 then it will mark a breakthrough in the automation of communication and even thought. We’ll begin allowing our computers to speak for us.<\/p>\n

Is that a development to be welcomed? It seems more than a little\u00a0weird that Apple’s developers would get excited about an algorithm that will converse with your spouse on your behalf, channeling the “laid back” tone you deploy for conjugal\u00a0chitchat. The programmers\u00a0seem to assume that\u00a0romantic partners are desperate\u00a0to trade intimacy for efficiency. I suppose the next step is to get Frederick Winslow Taylor to stand beside the marriage bed with a stopwatch and a clipboard. “Three caresses would have been sufficient, ma’am.”<\/p>\n

In The Glass Cage<\/em><\/a>, I argue that we’ve embraced a wrong-headed and ultimately destructive approach to automating human activities, and in Apple’s let-the-software-do-the-talking feature we see a particularly disquieting manifestation\u00a0of the reigning\u00a0design ethic. Technical qualities are given precedence over human qualities, and human qualities\u00a0come to be seen as dispensable.<\/p>\n

When we allow ourselves to be\u00a0guided by predictive algorithms, in acting, speaking, or thinking, we inevitably become more predictable ourselves, as\u00a0Rochester Institute of Technology philosopher Evan Selinger pointed out<\/a> in discussing the Apple system:<\/p>\n

Predicting you is predicting a\u00a0predictable<\/em>\u00a0you. Which is itself subtracting from your autonomy. And it\u2019s\u00a0encouraging<\/em>\u00a0you to be predictable, to be a facsimile of yourself. So it’s a prediction and a nudge at the same moment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s a slippery slope, and it becomes more slippery with each nudge. Predicted responses begin to replace responses, simply because it’s a little more efficient to simulate a response\u00a0\u2014a thought, a sentence, a gesture \u2014 than\u00a0to undertake the small amount of work necessary to\u00a0have<\/em>\u00a0a response. And then that small amount of work begins to seem like a lot of work \u2014 like correcting your own typos rather than allowing the spellchecker to do it. And then, as original responses become rarer, the predictions become predictions based on earlier predictions. Where does the algorithm end and the self begin?<\/p>\n

And if we assume that the people we’re exchanging messages with are also using the predictive-text program to formulate their responses\u00a0. . . well, then things get really strange.\u00a0Everything\u00a0becomes a parlor trick.<\/p>\n

Image: Thomas Edison’s talking doll.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lost in yesterday’s\u00a0coverage of the Apple Watch was a small software feature that, when demonstrated on the stage of the Flint Center, earned brief but vigorous applause from the audience. It was the watch’s ability to scan\u00a0incoming messages and suggest possible responses. The Verge’s live-blogging crew were wowed: The example Apple presented was pretty rudimentary. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5064"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5094,"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5064\/revisions\/5094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roughtype.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}