Greg's Right FIT #363

Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week. 

In this issue: 

- Thoughts on Momentum
- Being Human
- Random Stuff

Thoughts on Momentum

• The wise man says, in order for something to grow, another thing is left behind. To get fingers on our hand, embryonic webbing goes away. To do more, we need to start with releasing activities or ideas binding us to today. 
• It's storming outside, making it easy to appreciate the shelter and warmth my house provides. The HVAC van in the neighbor's driveway suggests she is being forced to consider how her shelter is functioning today too. 
• The cleaning crew leaves my dog's toys in his bed near the heat register. No matter how cold it is, he won't use the bed unless the toys are removed. Small obstacles to his momentum, but obstacles nonetheless. 
• Another wise may says, let it go. To build momentum it's more effective to let go of something binding you than to add new activities to your routine. 

Being Human - The fun with robots

"One day the AIs are going to look back on us the same way we look at fossil skeletons on the plains of Africa.”
– Nathan in Ex-Machina

I have written about working with AI and machine leaning, including my experience with conversational AI. In case I am being too jargon-ish, conversational AI is a type of artificial intelligence that enables regular people to interact with computer applications the way they would with other humans. I have a productivity tool in mind which will require this ability in a machine. I periodically check in with these tools to see how far they have come and right now the interface making the most progress is online chat. It's impressive. Last week I used one to write the first section of my newsletter. 

While having the robot write for me sounds impressive, the chatbot's ability to generate new content is suspect. I teach a class to high school students and when I read what the robot spits out it reminds me of them. When a student is giving a lackluster effort to an assignment it will be full of generalizations, filler language, and they will talk around the prompt. The non-answer answer. The AI chatbots do the same thing. It makes middling non-specific content. Kind of like me. 

What I'm most impressed with is the robot's ability in computing my prompt's intent. This is what I need it for. I want a bot to pick up on what the user is trying to communicate then check for understanding before committing the input into use. For instance, if the user gives the bot a random list of priorities, I want the bot to do what I do: make  a list, get confirmation on the list's contents, then prompt the user to prioritize the list some more. 

Oh, it needs one other thing. I need to be able to program it by describing the process and output in natural language too. I mean, I'm not going to learn how to program or hire a programmer or anything.

It would help if the interface is a little like Alicia Vikander in Ex-Machina too. 

Not there yet. 

Random Stuff

"A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small parcel.” 
– philosopher John Ruskin

I'm sitting with my sister's family in a mountain cabin. It's late, and I'm dominating a card game. (it turns out I may not understand the rules, or as my sister calls it, cheating) We're having some fun interacting with the Alexa device in the living room, yelling out favorite songs and such when I express my concern about the interface, and the nature of our surveillance state. 

"I know it's not supposed to be listening, but it seems like the only way it knows to respond to 'Alexa' is to be processing everything we say. It's creepy."

I go on to describe my difficulty in staying out of this data world. Doorbell cameras, other people's devices listening for prompts, networks tracking our device locations. . . With a flourish I declare the measure of true wealth in the near future will be the ability to stay off the grid, while still functioning in society. 

The card game continues. My brother-in-law says, "Do you really think anyone cares if Alexa knows you have a thing for 'The Smiths?'"

Point taken.