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In 2019 we've only scratched the surface of how tools can potentially augment our cognitive capabilities. Simple word completion in the shell or in your $EDITO

In 2019 we've only scratched the surface of how tools can potentially augment our cognitive capabilities. Simple word completion in the shell or in your $EDITOR saves some cognitive buffer. Completion in Gmail feels a bit too creepy at the moment. Outsourcing personal responses to a bot seems wrong. What comes next? Imagine if you and your recipient(s) could toggle a setting "always accept Gmail completion" - in theory the Gmail "agents" could then proceed to have a conversation between themselves.

kace91 7y ago
Which is not really that different from those Google demos that called businesses for you to book specific dates for hairdressers and the like. It is entirely possible that we'll end up with a highly inefficient network of systems interacting with each other by mimicking human interaction as a de facto standard of communication.
- bitwize 7y ago
  At which point Google will see an optimization strategy in replacing those human conversations with Protocol Buffer based protocols. Anyone who doesn't grok protobuf will be assumed to be a filthy meatbag and meatbag conversation will be used as a fallback.
vinceguidry 7y ago
I think eventually we'll start to see the convenience of automated personal responses as worth the slight distance it creates. It can create a new kind of gift you give to someone, the gift of taking personal time out to craft responses. You see this sort of thing in Japanese culture already and have in traditional societies throughout history. Culture and technology create walls and the effort to scale them becomes the currency of human affection. Getting on the same page as someone on 'big' topics seems a task particularly suited to AI. Human cognition is messy, slow, and not everyone is adapted to rapid-fire social interaction. This bears real costs. If the computer could just understand what I wanted to say, taking my dumb words and turning them into nice shiny non-offensive prose, then I could maintain a lot more human connection than I do at present.

kace91 7y ago

Which is not really that different from those Google demos that called businesses for you to book specific dates for hairdressers and the like. It is entirely possible that we'll end up with a highly inefficient network of systems interacting with each other by mimicking human interaction as a de facto standard of communication.

bitwize 7y ago
At which point Google will see an optimization strategy in replacing those human conversations with Protocol Buffer based protocols. Anyone who doesn't grok protobuf will be assumed to be a filthy meatbag and meatbag conversation will be used as a fallback.

vinceguidry 7y ago

I think eventually we'll start to see the convenience of automated personal responses as worth the slight distance it creates. It can create a new kind of gift you give to someone, the gift of taking personal time out to craft responses. You see this sort of thing in Japanese culture already and have in traditional societies throughout history. Culture and technology create walls and the effort to scale them becomes the currency of human affection. Getting on the same page as someone on 'big' topics seems a task particularly suited to AI. Human cognition is messy, slow, and not everyone is adapted to rapid-fire social interaction. This bears real costs. If the computer could just understand what I wanted to say, taking my dumb words and turning them into nice shiny non-offensive prose, then I could maintain a lot more human connection than I do at present.