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Why does it matter if I mistakenly think the answering machine bot is a real person? Assuming I can treat it like a real person and still get the results I want

Why does it matter if I mistakenly think the answering machine bot is a real person? Assuming I can treat it like a real person and still get the results I want, why should I care one way or the other?

Balgair 9y ago
Because it is not a person. It's a machine. There is no shared experience, it doesn't have experiences, it's sand and metal. Like, a really smart parrot is not a person, right? Even if the parrot could be an answering machine, it would not be due respect and it would not respect you back; because it's a parrot. I think the issue is that the answer-bot is inherently disrespectful to the real human. Just using one at all is like saying to the real person:"You are not worthy of the time and/or respect of a real human; talk to this clever metal parrot." Text devices and digital sign-ups are at least 'equal', though the transaction is sterile. Trying to fake that a person is talking to a bot is disrespectful of that other real person and their time; it's trying to pull one over on them and fake them into thinking that the bot's owner is worthy, but that the other real person is not worthy. Just use a sign-up service. If the company/person does not have one, they are signaling that you have to actually talk to them, and you should respect their decision because they are a real person too, not try to pull a fast one.
- Ajedi32 9y ago
  Why do I need to have "shared experiences" with the person I'm ordering pizza from? I'm trying to order pizza, not get a date. It's not about "worthiness" or anything as elitist as that either; I just want to buy a pizza. > Just use a sign-up service. If the company/person does not have one, they are signaling that you have to actually talk to them Or that they can't afford to build an online order service? I seriously doubt the guy working the counter at my local pizza restaurant has any particular desire to speak to me personally.
  - Balgair 9y ago
    Either way, forcing a person to talk to a robot without their 'consent' is, well, really rude. Many people hate phone-trees as is, forcing people to deal with them even more is not making the world a better place, it's making one person's world a better place at expense of others.
    - Ajedi32 9y ago
      The whole point of this system though is that it's _not_ a phone tree, it's a conversational AI that's so good at what it does you might not even notice it isn't human. I agree that forcing people to talk to a poorly designed phone tree with terrible voice recognition would be rude, but this isn't that.
    - daveFNbuck 9y ago
      Forcing a person to talk to a person without their consent is really rude too. What makes talking to a robot that's indistinguishable from a human worse than talking to a human?

Balgair 9y ago

Because it is not a person. It's a machine. There is no shared experience, it doesn't have experiences, it's sand and metal. Like, a really smart parrot is not a person, right? Even if the parrot could be an answering machine, it would not be due respect and it would not respect you back; because it's a parrot. I think the issue is that the answer-bot is inherently disrespectful to the real human. Just using one at all is like saying to the real person:"You are not worthy of the time and/or respect of a real human; talk to this clever metal parrot." Text devices and digital sign-ups are at least 'equal', though the transaction is sterile. Trying to fake that a person is talking to a bot is disrespectful of that other real person and their time; it's trying to pull one over on them and fake them into thinking that the bot's owner is worthy, but that the other real person is not worthy. Just use a sign-up service. If the company/person does not have one, they are signaling that you have to actually talk to them, and you should respect their decision because they are a real person too, not try to pull a fast one.

Ajedi32 9y ago
Why do I need to have "shared experiences" with the person I'm ordering pizza from? I'm trying to order pizza, not get a date. It's not about "worthiness" or anything as elitist as that either; I just want to buy a pizza. > Just use a sign-up service. If the company/person does not have one, they are signaling that you have to actually talk to them Or that they can't afford to build an online order service? I seriously doubt the guy working the counter at my local pizza restaurant has any particular desire to speak to me personally.
- Balgair 9y ago
  Either way, forcing a person to talk to a robot without their 'consent' is, well, really rude. Many people hate phone-trees as is, forcing people to deal with them even more is not making the world a better place, it's making one person's world a better place at expense of others.
  - Ajedi32 9y ago
    The whole point of this system though is that it's _not_ a phone tree, it's a conversational AI that's so good at what it does you might not even notice it isn't human. I agree that forcing people to talk to a poorly designed phone tree with terrible voice recognition would be rude, but this isn't that.
  - daveFNbuck 9y ago
    Forcing a person to talk to a person without their consent is really rude too. What makes talking to a robot that's indistinguishable from a human worse than talking to a human?