Friday, January 15, 2010

Computers love us now, but we should never turn our backs on them.

I am starting my day with a "QuickMix" on Pandora One. My music preferences are understood by some of the most amazing algorithms and databases ever to be created to analyze music. The name of said math has a really cool name: "The Musical Genome Project". The Human Genome Project brings to mind heavy shit like ethical issues, cloning people, deathly diseases, political battles where these issues all go head to head in bloody battle. The Musical Genome Project simply brings to mind that wonderful feeling of discovering music that you love, hanging out at a good friend's house.

"You've got to listen to THIS, man!!!"

I haven't heard that as much as I used to, because I have told Pandora I like this or that song, I have told it I like this or that artist, and it's got good recommendations as to what I might also like. It's expanded my tastes, within my comfort zone. Minds may function like parachutes, only when open, but the hand has to find a motive to pull the cord. Friends used to pull that cord for me. They still do sometimes, but it's not as unique a roll for humans now.

Pandora is not alone. eMusic, iTunes, Amazon, Google, facebook, Slacker.com, Last.fm, Yahoo and every site I visit that has an article with something I am interested in, they all vie for my attention. Advertising and marketing used to be synonymous with annoyance to me. I don't want light beer, I don't have plans to clog my veins with processed cheese product, I am definitely not shopping for a minivan or SUV. I still can't stand television, traditional radio, and newspapers. These media are all dead to me. Of course, those media have been slowly transitioning online, and becoming similar to the newer types of media.

Yes, computers are my friends. They understand me. I don't mean to imply they replace real friends. They don't. They do nothing to help you understand the differences between us and for all the love that we may show on social networking websites, it's just not the same as what we may be face to face with one another. The general public does not respond as if programmed by an algorithm designed to make the world more compatible with my mind.

I sell cars. It I use words like "understeer", "oversteer", "compression", and "Macpherson strut" with every one of my customers, I will have a lot of glazed over looks and few sales for the month. Every one in 1000 customers who comes in will know what I mean and might still end up purchasing elsewhere because I present data too objectively. I cannot pretend that the physical world is like the online one where things bend to my preferences and speak my language.

Still, the world of 2010 is exciting to me because ideas are less shot into the dark and more aimed at a useful target. The world of 2010 is one in which cold fusion of ideas is possible, not just uncontrolled fission reactions of ideas that go nowhere.

Thanks to the modern interconnectedness of things, I can sign 20 petitions a day in under 10 minutes to exert my political will for change. Thanks to this modern web of ideas and data, if I don't know something about anything, I can look it up, from the gadget in my pocket, and link in to the context of word, statement or idea.

Computers are our friends. Still, as in real friendships, one must be aware. In 2010, just as in 1910, one can have "friends" that cause one to think that they need no enemies thanks to the role these "friends" are playing. Our vices, prejudices, and general habituation can all be exploited by algorithms. Whatever makes us good can be amplified. Whatever makes us bad can be amplified. The key here is to stay one step ahead. Don't pretend you can ignore the pace of technology. Don't pretend it's not following you. Perhaps it's outpacing you. Don't let it.

Stay one step ahead with the most astounding algorithm of all-your mind.

1 comment:

  1. love it! i have a pretty incredible desktop machine with a multi-core processor and gigs of hertz and memory, but i am generally still waiting on the damned thing to perform one function that i could do in a fraction of a second.
    in sales, BA, one must use less objective terms, and more subjective terms. this car is cool, and practical, and very you. you like this car, because the paint looks shiny. buy this car, because you deserve it.

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