Eventually this will lead to voice controls... Voice controls as imagined by science fiction like Star Trek and implemented by Apple, Amazon, some cars, etc. a

Eventually this will lead to voice controls... Voice controls as imagined by science fiction like Star Trek and implemented by Apple, Amazon, some cars, etc. are one of the worst UI designs imaginable. Vocal communication is a Hollywood trope to make up for the fact that flipping a light switch doesn't make for compelling television. Vocal communication is slow, ambiguous, leaky, and distracting, whereas mechanical interfaces can be operated almost subconsciously. How long does it take you to depress the brake pedal in a car, versus, "Okay Google, [long pause, waiting for enough cell bandwidth] please stop before you hit that car in front of me!" Sure, you might say cars will take care of stopping automatically. But that just proves the point that voice is an unsuitable UI medium. And cars don't yet stop autonomously with 100% reliability, and there are a thousand less critical but more common interactions with everyday systems that are just ridiculous for voice: turning on lights, adjusting the volume of a stereo, locking a door, etc. The last holiday party I went to the hosts were using an Echo for music, and the entire conversation had to pause for 30 seconds every time someone wanted to change the volume. Give me sensor-based automation, give me switches and knobs, give me anything but a voice interface.