6 ms·

Good lord that's scary. Rapidly ushering in the future where none of our words are our own. Anyone ever read Roald Dahl's short story The Great Automatic Gramm

Good lord that's scary. Rapidly ushering in the future where none of our words are our own. Anyone ever read Roald Dahl's short story The Great Automatic Grammatizator ? 10/10 strongly recommend, about an engineer who develops a computer-like machine able to compose fiction. Googling "the great automatic grammatizator pdf" gives a .doc version as the top result, for me anyway.

wetback 8y ago
I despise the homogenization of thought that these tools lead to. My words are my own, even my typos.
- ovao 8y ago
  I don't think there's any basis for the argument that autocomplete tools lead to "homogenization of thought", and therefore no reason to "despise" them.
- netheril96 8y ago
  I don't think typos communicate any information of value.
skybrian 8y ago
Oh no, more autocomplete! I don't see it as much scarier than tab-completion while programming or on a phone. As long as you're watching over it and fixing mistakes, it's just a convenience.
- aerovistae 8y ago
  If it wrote the entire email for you, and you watched it to see there were no mistakes, I suppose that would just be a convenience too. But at some point you cross a line and your voice is lost. That line draws closer, inch by inch.
  - skybrian 8y ago
    At that point it shades into ghostwriting, which can be done well or badly. If done well, it should be imitating how you'd write it yourself.
- kevincox 8y ago
  Tab compiletion while programming is hugely different then this completion and phone completion is somewhere in the middle. While I am programming I usually know what method I want, I might not know the exact name but I know what it does and when I see it I select it. There may be a rare case where I want to see what methods are available but that is just a convient way to read "documentation". However this is guiding your sentence as you write it. I suspect that most people would have different phrasing if using this feature then they otherwise would.
toomuchtodo 8y ago
"David Ryan is the designer of ELOPe, an email language optimization program, that if successful, will make his career. [SPOILER: ELOPe is essentially Smart Compose in Gmail] But when the project is suddenly in danger of being canceled, David embeds a hidden directive in the software accidentally creating a runaway artificial intelligence. David and his team are initially thrilled when the project is allocated extra servers and programmers. But excitement turns to fear as the team realizes that they are being manipulated by an A.I. who is redirecting corporate funds, reassigning personnel and arming itself in pursuit of its own agenda." "Avogadro Corp: The Singularity Is Closer Than It Appears" (3 part book series) https://smile.amazon.com/Avogadro-Corp-Singularity-Closer-Appears-ebook/dp/B006ACIMQQ https://smile.amazon.com/Avogadro-Corp-Singularity-Closer-Ap... (Book one)
arkaine 8y ago
The "My address" autocompletion gave me that feeling too.

wetback 8y ago

I despise the homogenization of thought that these tools lead to. My words are my own, even my typos.

ovao 8y ago
I don't think there's any basis for the argument that autocomplete tools lead to "homogenization of thought", and therefore no reason to "despise" them.
netheril96 8y ago
I don't think typos communicate any information of value.

skybrian 8y ago

Oh no, more autocomplete! I don't see it as much scarier than tab-completion while programming or on a phone. As long as you're watching over it and fixing mistakes, it's just a convenience.

aerovistae 8y ago
If it wrote the entire email for you, and you watched it to see there were no mistakes, I suppose that would just be a convenience too. But at some point you cross a line and your voice is lost. That line draws closer, inch by inch.
- skybrian 8y ago
  At that point it shades into ghostwriting, which can be done well or badly. If done well, it should be imitating how you'd write it yourself.
kevincox 8y ago
Tab compiletion while programming is hugely different then this completion and phone completion is somewhere in the middle. While I am programming I usually know what method I want, I might not know the exact name but I know what it does and when I see it I select it. There may be a rare case where I want to see what methods are available but that is just a convient way to read "documentation". However this is guiding your sentence as you write it. I suspect that most people would have different phrasing if using this feature then they otherwise would.

toomuchtodo 8y ago

"David Ryan is the designer of ELOPe, an email language optimization program, that if successful, will make his career. [SPOILER: ELOPe is essentially Smart Compose in Gmail] But when the project is suddenly in danger of being canceled, David embeds a hidden directive in the software accidentally creating a runaway artificial intelligence. David and his team are initially thrilled when the project is allocated extra servers and programmers. But excitement turns to fear as the team realizes that they are being manipulated by an A.I. who is redirecting corporate funds, reassigning personnel and arming itself in pursuit of its own agenda." "Avogadro Corp: The Singularity Is Closer Than It Appears" (3 part book series) https://smile.amazon.com/Avogadro-Corp-Singularity-Closer-Appears-ebook/dp/B006ACIMQQ https://smile.amazon.com/Avogadro-Corp-Singularity-Closer-Ap... (Book one)

arkaine 8y ago

The "My address" autocompletion gave me that feeling too.