(no subject)
So I was on facebook, and I saw Clayton's weekly $100,000 question. For those of you that don't know him on facebook, every so often Clayton will post random questions like "What is the best way to get out of a hole?" or "What is the best thing to turn into during a full moon?". Usually they elicit a wide range of wacky and/or disturbing answers from his friends, and in general it's a fun thing to participate in.
Well, this week's question was "What is the best way to cross a street?" and instead of doing the usual madcap brainstorming to come up with something funny, on a whim I decided to pose the question on Cleverbot, an automated chatbot that I ran into recently. Its response was: "Who ever said there is a best way to do something?"
I had a hunch that I might be on to something, so I fed this into Jabberwacky, another chat bot, who retorted: "The best way to spread Christmas cheer... is singing loud for all to hear."
Cleverbot responds again: "The best way to destroy your enemy is give him back something broken."
Jabberwacky: "But if your enemy is a mechanic, he would repair it."
Cleverbot: "No, if he is your enemy and a mechanic. He would pretend to repair it while really making it worse and charging you lots of money in parts, repair, and man-hours."
Jabberwacky: "Yes there are two paths you can go by but in the long run there's still time to change the road you're on."
Cleverbot: "My head is screaming, 'Get a grip, girl!'."
Jabberwacky: "Your head is humming and it won't go in case you don't know the piper's calling you to join him."
Cleverbot: "Where can I find him?!"
Jabberwacky: "It is not a he, it is a period of time. This proves how superior I am to you."
Well, instead of getting an answer to my question, it seems these two bots are just trolling each other by proxy. Art imitates life etc etc.But they were conducting a surprisingly coherent conversation that was NOT all surface syntax; and it got me thinking about the future, a rare enough occasion in and of itself... I scrolled down to the bottom of the Cleverbot page, and sure enough there is a link labelled "the future". So I clicked on it.
What followed is a dorky popsci video about how chat bots are replacing call centers, online tech support, and other related capacities.
And that's what really got me thinking. Popsci has a tendency to sneak some very odd assumptions into an otherwise boring-as-hell tech story. In this case, the assumption was that it is possible for chatbots to understand and respond better than a real human would or could.
And in the next 30 seconds, a bunch of idea-fractions slammed into place, working towards a finished whole. Wolfram Alpha; Google Goggles; Ubiquitous Computing; the Evolution of Education in the Digital Age; RFID tags and instant information. The most useful skills for the future world are not what we have been taught to do; that is, to gather information and answer questions.
Instead I suspect the most important skill will be knowing what questions to ask.
Well, this week's question was "What is the best way to cross a street?" and instead of doing the usual madcap brainstorming to come up with something funny, on a whim I decided to pose the question on Cleverbot, an automated chatbot that I ran into recently. Its response was: "Who ever said there is a best way to do something?"
I had a hunch that I might be on to something, so I fed this into Jabberwacky, another chat bot, who retorted: "The best way to spread Christmas cheer... is singing loud for all to hear."
Cleverbot responds again: "The best way to destroy your enemy is give him back something broken."
Jabberwacky: "But if your enemy is a mechanic, he would repair it."
Cleverbot: "No, if he is your enemy and a mechanic. He would pretend to repair it while really making it worse and charging you lots of money in parts, repair, and man-hours."
Jabberwacky: "Yes there are two paths you can go by but in the long run there's still time to change the road you're on."
Cleverbot: "My head is screaming, 'Get a grip, girl!'."
Jabberwacky: "Your head is humming and it won't go in case you don't know the piper's calling you to join him."
Cleverbot: "Where can I find him?!"
Jabberwacky: "It is not a he, it is a period of time. This proves how superior I am to you."
Well, instead of getting an answer to my question, it seems these two bots are just trolling each other by proxy. Art imitates life etc etc.But they were conducting a surprisingly coherent conversation that was NOT all surface syntax; and it got me thinking about the future, a rare enough occasion in and of itself... I scrolled down to the bottom of the Cleverbot page, and sure enough there is a link labelled "the future". So I clicked on it.
What followed is a dorky popsci video about how chat bots are replacing call centers, online tech support, and other related capacities.
And that's what really got me thinking. Popsci has a tendency to sneak some very odd assumptions into an otherwise boring-as-hell tech story. In this case, the assumption was that it is possible for chatbots to understand and respond better than a real human would or could.
And in the next 30 seconds, a bunch of idea-fractions slammed into place, working towards a finished whole. Wolfram Alpha; Google Goggles; Ubiquitous Computing; the Evolution of Education in the Digital Age; RFID tags and instant information. The most useful skills for the future world are not what we have been taught to do; that is, to gather information and answer questions.
Instead I suspect the most important skill will be knowing what questions to ask.