Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mailrus!ames!ucsd!sdcsvax!ucsdhub!hp-sdd!hplabs!hplabsz!taylor
From: beryl@oresoft.UUCP (Beryl Gray)
Newsgroups: comp.society
Subject: Re: Computers in advertising
Message-ID: <1887@hplabsz.HPL.HP.COM>
Date: 12 Apr 88 16:47:49 GMT
Sender: taylor@hplabsz.HPL.HP.COM
Organization: Oregon Software, Portland OR
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Approved: taylor@hplabs

Dave Meile talks about cute computers in commercials, ending with:

> It brought to mind another commercial I'd seen recently, where a 
> Talking Computer described the benefits of a chewing gum.
>
> Are Computers Our Friend?  What sort of image is being subliminally sent
> out to television viewers when they hear these nice Talking Computers?
> What message do we receive about what computers are and what they do
> when they are portrayed in this manner?  Is it merely an extension of
> the Cute Robots in science fiction films?

What bothers me the most about this kind of thing, is that is personifies
machines.  People start acting as if the thing was really alive.  I don't
mind this so much in a science-fiction setting, but in a slice-of-life
commercial it is annoying.  I think that when we get good voice-recognition
hardware and software that can mimic a simple conversation we may get a
lot of annoying phone calls from what sounds like another person.  Have you
called a bank or a utility and talked for twenty minutes with a person that
refused to acknowledge what you are saying?  Imagine that you've spent 
that 20 minutes talking to a billing program!

People speculate whether, when we create what is a acknowledged to be 
sentient computer, it would be unethical to shut it off.  I say, pull
the plug!

Beryl Gray