I don't want HAL 9000

Wednesday, Lunch, Shoeless Joe's in Brampton

I'm having lunch with real-world buddy Paul, who's been reading my blog for a short while now. General chit chat, blah blah as the meal goes on and then I pop the dreaded question:

"Do I write like I sound on my blog? I mean, does it sound like me?

"No you're much more coherent on your blog," Paul says without hesitation.

note: I decided not to hurt him at this point, but Paul, I do know where the skeletons are buried. I will be writing about you in the future.

---

But this did get me thinking...

I can't write for shit without my word processor. Those promised voice activated computers that have been talked about since I was 6 won't do me any good. I think on the keyboard. If I had to actually talk to a machine, I doubt if I'd want to write anything.

I hate my speaking voice. And besides, if you had to talk to your machine to write, wouldn't everyone know what you're writing about? What happened to privacy and private activities? (no, not THAT activity!) Anyone else in the room would KNOW if you're writing about them, wouldn't they?

I'll throw this out to any passers-by that happen to be reading this right now (Dear God! Don't you have anything else to do?)

Do we really want to TALK to our machines? Or is the keyboard good enough for the foreseeable future?

I mean, I like my computer, but it's not like I want to have meaningful conversations with it...