By Rodrigo de Benito Sanz (February 18, 2009) (4 Week Response,week 4 reading response)

The Power of the 2

I would like machines thinking for me. Some responsibilities and duties are heavy, and my lazy-me would prefer to be in bed instead of writing this post.  If blogjects would really exist they would go over the readings, summarize them and notify me the main information; or even upload directly their own thought – or a projection of mine. But before that I should proceed to configure them. Maybe I could teach my own blogject to learn my behavior, my emotions and my personality. Wait, that seems to me a lot of configuration to do! My computer communicates with my iPod, and several times I lose more time trying to make something to work digitally than making it directly with my own hands. Computers seem smart because they have access to an overwhelming amount of information. They are pretty convincing. Sometimes I draw directly on my laptop. It looks like just prettier. Computers are prepared to save time in complicated tasks. They can have what I need if I know it. However there are situations, many, where technology cannot read what humans can. Maybe I want to take the longer path to get to the same place. Probably I don’t want to be efficient 100% of the time. It seems to me that an intelligent environment wouldn’t be programmed to skip my duties. I can’t help thinking of my intelligent bedroom as a guardian.

Intelligent technology can be turned on and off. Do we really do it? Sometimes it’s hard. We are a network that needs machines. If I don’t use them, I’m out. That brings to me several questions related to the socio-economical gaps that an extreme use of Ambient Technology can produce. The world is not flat and neither my neighborhood. The promotion of such advanced technologies shouldn’t forget that smart devices (and my Internet connection) are not free. There are side effects to be taken into account. The production of new tools should follow specific policies. I would love to see my car telling everyone about the destructive consequences of the consumption of fossil resources. First we start wanting to listen, though.

I enjoying improvising and talking about random things. Creating an intelligent environment can lead to new technological auto-sustainable (eco)systems. Communication between machines could prevent them to break. They could repair their hardware and improve themselves. Case by case, since I usually turn off the “auto-update” option. I don’t want to be out of the decision process always but it’s true, some things I rather not know. Smart Objects can learn our language. They can produce content, they can reproduce our syntactic codes. However, devices shouldn’t replace us in our main field. Smart zeros and ones can emulate sophisticated emotions and copy behaviors. Smart humans have mercy, hope and communicate through metaphors. Even if I feel lazy, I want to keep some room for that.