The idea that the way a question is asked (and by whom) will affect the answer is not all that surprising, but it was unexpected. We tend to know that asnwers change based on when the question was asked, but I never really thought about the extent of that change. Now, I have a better opinion and will keep this in mind more.
Treat computers as humans, I think not. We are all unique as people, but computers are massed produced. When a computer asks you how it's doing, its not actually the computer asking, but the company that produced the computer. We intuitively know that computers do not feel our emotions and therefore answer their questions honestly.
Then you read on and realize that, as humans, we do treat computers nicer when they are asking us the question than when another method is used. Why this is, I am still unsure. Maybe the rest of the book will explain it.
Quality, quantity, relevance, and clarity are required in any conversation, including that with computers. I didn't realize how much each of these items was important until it was laid out in front of me in simple words. The problem is that computers don't follow most of these rules, how can they be modified to do so? I don't know, but some day there will be a resolution to this problem.
The final question in this book is "Should we ask less of media and their makers?" I believe the answer is no. Because of the amount of time that people spend around media, the politeness that we are taught as children needs to be reaffirmed regularly. If left without use for long enough, people will forget how to be polite. Hopefully the use of politeness in media will help us not only correct our politeness, but learn new ways to be polite.
No comments:
Post a Comment