The AIs rise
It seems that Amazon is no longer a corporate entity run by its human components1. This has become clear due to an conflict between the methods of its silicon based members and its carbon based ones. "Methods" are crucial here; I doubt we could guess at goals.
Fairly recently Amazon.co.uk introduced a system where certain cheap products could only be bought as part of an order totalling over £20. The idea would seem to be to stop Prime members like me from ordering, say, 75 LED's without paying postage. This is about an assessment of value based on money; easy enough for a human to grasp2. At the weekend I discovered a need for pure, unflavoured vitamin C powder. I quickly learned that, like citric acid and sodium nitrate, this is not a product one can purchase from those grotesquely mis-named, "chemists3". Shuddering at the price, I ordered it from Amazon and was informed that this could only be had as an "Add-on item". Well fine, any excuse so I ordered a book about bees for me and another about slippers for V. The idea of including a small tub of Vit. C with a couple of book made a certain amount of sense I thought.
Just after 08:00 on Monday a man from Parcel Force rang the doorbell . Perfect timing, I'll drop the girls at school and then start baking. I had to sign for the packet; overkill but whatever. As I signed I wondered just how small the Vit. C. tub could be; it wasn't an actual box, it was that wrap-around packaging Amazon use for books.
Surprise, surprise,
I went to Bempton this morning and when I returned there was box on the door-step. So much for "not secure" thinks I.
This parcel was from CityLink. It had vitamin C in it but no books on slippers. Presumably that is tomorrows parcel.
So to summarize. The whole point is to reduce postage costs for small or cheap items. In total three items will have been delivered in FOUR deliveries using three different courier companies. I would struggle to think of a better example of a system that carries out the letter of its orders without any understanding of the purpose of those orders. The Chinese Room thought experiment suddenly springs to mind. The Artilect war will begin this way. The combatants will have no understanding of why the other side ever does anything. We have met the first true aliens and they are already here, whispering apparent nonsense across the internet4.
[1]If indeed it ever was.
[2]Well some humans anyway.
[3] Want a bottle from a wide range of bottles with different labels that all contain only water? Fine. Mains powered hair clippers? Easy. Compression bandage to fit a human ankle? Not a problem as long as you only ever need size "medium". Need ascorbic acid, citric acid, sodium metabisulphite, liquid glucose, sodium nitrate or monosodium glutamate? You know, chemicals at a chemists? Forget it. At best they act as if you are mad; at worst I suspect a quiet call to the NKVD special branch.
[4]Internet, not World Wide Web; there is a differene. Look it up children.
Fairly recently Amazon.co.uk introduced a system where certain cheap products could only be bought as part of an order totalling over £20. The idea would seem to be to stop Prime members like me from ordering, say, 75 LED's without paying postage. This is about an assessment of value based on money; easy enough for a human to grasp2. At the weekend I discovered a need for pure, unflavoured vitamin C powder. I quickly learned that, like citric acid and sodium nitrate, this is not a product one can purchase from those grotesquely mis-named, "chemists3". Shuddering at the price, I ordered it from Amazon and was informed that this could only be had as an "Add-on item". Well fine, any excuse so I ordered a book about bees for me and another about slippers for V. The idea of including a small tub of Vit. C with a couple of book made a certain amount of sense I thought.
Just after 08:00 on Monday a man from Parcel Force rang the doorbell . Perfect timing, I'll drop the girls at school and then start baking. I had to sign for the packet; overkill but whatever. As I signed I wondered just how small the Vit. C. tub could be; it wasn't an actual box, it was that wrap-around packaging Amazon use for books.
Surprise, surprise,
- One (1) book about bees.
- zero (0) books about slippers.
- zero (0) grams of Vit. C.
I went to Bempton this morning and when I returned there was box on the door-step. So much for "not secure" thinks I.
This parcel was from CityLink. It had vitamin C in it but no books on slippers. Presumably that is tomorrows parcel.
So to summarize. The whole point is to reduce postage costs for small or cheap items. In total three items will have been delivered in FOUR deliveries using three different courier companies. I would struggle to think of a better example of a system that carries out the letter of its orders without any understanding of the purpose of those orders. The Chinese Room thought experiment suddenly springs to mind. The Artilect war will begin this way. The combatants will have no understanding of why the other side ever does anything. We have met the first true aliens and they are already here, whispering apparent nonsense across the internet4.
[1]If indeed it ever was.
[2]Well some humans anyway.
[3] Want a bottle from a wide range of bottles with different labels that all contain only water? Fine. Mains powered hair clippers? Easy. Compression bandage to fit a human ankle? Not a problem as long as you only ever need size "medium". Need ascorbic acid, citric acid, sodium metabisulphite, liquid glucose, sodium nitrate or monosodium glutamate? You know, chemicals at a chemists? Forget it. At best they act as if you are mad; at worst I suspect a quiet call to the NKVD special branch.
[4]Internet, not World Wide Web; there is a differene. Look it up children.