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My personal view is that the biggest issue here is the lack of user protection. I'd be a LOT less concerned about this if the appropriate legal framework protec

My personal view is that the biggest issue here is the lack of user protection. I'd be a LOT less concerned about this if the appropriate legal framework protected me. The Star Trek vision of voice as an interface is a good vision. The question is how the regulatory framework protects users in this world and keeps it from being the dystopian nightmare that our "for profit corporations get to do whatever they like as long as you agreed in an 'all or nothing' click through" seem to be headed for.

jachee 7y ago
The in-universe answer from Star Trek is that there's no more capitalism in their post-scarcity society.
- Santosh83 7y ago
  While the tech seems to be catching up in certain areas (if not the FTL drive), socially we're nowhere near what was depicted in Star Trek. It wasn't just post-capitalism but post-money. People no longer had to work for basic necessities. That is almost an unimaginably different setup to what humanity has always been used to. There's also a noticeable lack of crime and corruption, again something humans will have to extensively transform themselves in order to reach the goal...
  - mrexroad 7y ago
    Don’t forget, that in Star Trek, there’s a post-apocalyptic period waiting for us before the post-capitalism times...
DennisP 7y ago
If the voice interface is implemented locally then it's not a problem. Google already has it working on the Pixel. It has some limitations but it responds faster and works offline. https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/12/googles-new-voice-recognition-system-works-instantly-and-offline-if-you-have-a-pixel/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/12/googles-new-voice-recognit...
- cmsonger 7y ago
  > If the voice interface is implemented locally then it's not a problem. That's not really observable or enforceable by me though. A question I ask myself all the time before I say yes to some kind of "new data tracking" is: "How do I think company_x will behave in 10 years if their profitability is plummeting?" Because I think that paints the worst case for companies that so far have been good actors. I guess the TLDR is: That's great, but I think that the solution is legal protections for users. Right now all the power is in the hands of the collecting organization.
  - DennisP 7y ago
    It's also possible for any software to have a keylogger. We don't really worry about that, because if it unexpectedly sends data, someone is likely to notice and tell everyone. Voice interfaces today work like keyloggers by design, and we're just trusting them not to abuse all the data they're getting. It'd be a lot better if we didn't have to. (I'm on board with legal protections too, of course.)
matheusmoreira 7y ago
Star Trek is a post scarcity society. There is no capitalism, commumism or even an economy. Every basic need is met. People join Starfleet and work as officers purely so they can better themselves and explore the stars. This is incredibly optimistic vision of the future. We are far more likely to end up in a cyberpunk nightmare where corporations are richer than entire nations and technology is used to subjugate and control people.
- pnw_hazor 7y ago
  The Expanse seems to show where we are headed.

jachee 7y ago

The in-universe answer from Star Trek is that there's no more capitalism in their post-scarcity society.

Santosh83 7y ago
While the tech seems to be catching up in certain areas (if not the FTL drive), socially we're nowhere near what was depicted in Star Trek. It wasn't just post-capitalism but post-money. People no longer had to work for basic necessities. That is almost an unimaginably different setup to what humanity has always been used to. There's also a noticeable lack of crime and corruption, again something humans will have to extensively transform themselves in order to reach the goal...
- mrexroad 7y ago
  Don’t forget, that in Star Trek, there’s a post-apocalyptic period waiting for us before the post-capitalism times...

DennisP 7y ago

If the voice interface is implemented locally then it's not a problem. Google already has it working on the Pixel. It has some limitations but it responds faster and works offline. https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/12/googles-new-voice-recognition-system-works-instantly-and-offline-if-you-have-a-pixel/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/12/googles-new-voice-recognit...

cmsonger 7y ago
> If the voice interface is implemented locally then it's not a problem. That's not really observable or enforceable by me though. A question I ask myself all the time before I say yes to some kind of "new data tracking" is: "How do I think company_x will behave in 10 years if their profitability is plummeting?" Because I think that paints the worst case for companies that so far have been good actors. I guess the TLDR is: That's great, but I think that the solution is legal protections for users. Right now all the power is in the hands of the collecting organization.
- DennisP 7y ago
  It's also possible for any software to have a keylogger. We don't really worry about that, because if it unexpectedly sends data, someone is likely to notice and tell everyone. Voice interfaces today work like keyloggers by design, and we're just trusting them not to abuse all the data they're getting. It'd be a lot better if we didn't have to. (I'm on board with legal protections too, of course.)

matheusmoreira 7y ago

Star Trek is a post scarcity society. There is no capitalism, commumism or even an economy. Every basic need is met. People join Starfleet and work as officers purely so they can better themselves and explore the stars. This is incredibly optimistic vision of the future. We are far more likely to end up in a cyberpunk nightmare where corporations are richer than entire nations and technology is used to subjugate and control people.

pnw_hazor 7y ago
The Expanse seems to show where we are headed.