Essays
Microsoft and OpenAI Go To The Movies
How is it that nobody at Microsoft has seen a movie in which AI super brains turn out to be a bad idea? Read the essay at A Cross of Silicon
Essays
Digital Diapers?
Is monetizing the data, er, scraped from the rear ends of little pre-consumers really a must-have tech innovation? Read the essay at A Cross of Silicon
Innovation
Amazon & “The People Problem”
I want to believe that all of us will be itinerant, wandering poets in a future where all the work gets done by obedient robots…but there’s every reason to believe it’ll be somewhat less perfect. Read the essay at A Cross of Silicon
Essays
Trust is Given, Not Earned
Humans are imperfect and emotionally unstable. So should we trust one another because of those shortcomings vs. the presumed perfection of technology? Read the essay at A Cross of Silicon
Uncategorized
The Big Disconnect
If we want to continue to make progress in society, we have to find new ways to empower people to own it. Read the essay at A Cross of Silicon
Uncategorized
Let’s Stop Fetishizing Tech
An op-ed in today’s New York Times entitled “Let’s Stop Fetishizing Privacy” was a lovingly blind paean to the glories of unrestricted and unrepentant technology. The last paragraph read like a challenge to those who might disagree with the author: “Progress is a messy business. Instead of trying to preserve what was, let’s realistically Read more…
Uncategorized
The Gender Bias Of Digital Assistants
Ever wonder why Alexa, Siri, Cortana, and Google Home speak in female voices? Users find them “more cordial” and “sympathetic” than male voices, which enables us to see computers as “helpful” and “caring,” according to this story last year. This means they’re discernibly subservient and therefore contribute to sexism, according to Read more…
Innovation
B2B Translation Services Needed
After reading the fact sheet on a client’s new product for the third time earlier this morning, I threw my hands in the air. I had no idea what they were talking about. The document was full of every conceivable buzzword, from deployment and integration to a half-dozen technologies and Read more…
Essays
What’s The Point Of Advertising?
A recent study of UK consumers found that “only 11% state that they enjoy advertising.” I’m surprised the number was so high. Advertising was never supposed to be entertaining; it was conceived as an interruption, or a necessary evil to be endured so that we could pay less for newspapers Read more…
Essays
A Robot BS Meter
BofA reports its use of algorithms that study language in earnings calls to inform buy and sell decisions yielded a 6+% improvement in performance. According to the Financial Times, “…unclear language is being identified as a consistent signal to sell a company’s stock.” In other words, BofA has invented a Read more…