Slashdot Mirror
They Finally Found Out We Like Our Computers
I'm Not There (1956) writes "Sociologist Clifford Nass is talking about how people think of their computers as something like human beings. In one of his experiments, Nass found that people are more willing to 'help' computers when the computer helped them previously: 'When people were then asked to help optimize the screen resolution on a computer where the program had been "helpful," they were much more likely to do so than with the less helpful version.' He also found that people evaluating software's performance were more forgiving if the evaluation was done on the same computer the software was tested on. Nass has recently published the book The Man Who Lied to His Laptop, in which he 'uses our interactions with machines to investigate how human relationships could be improved.'"
Nass has recently published the book The Man Who Lied to His Laptop, in which he 'uses our interactions with machines to investigate how human relationships could be improved.'
I propose forcing women to think like computers instead of like women. They would be much easier to interact with.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
They bring us free porn on a daily basis!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Like I needed to know how to improve my relationship with machines. What I need is a map to get out of the basement and interact with real people!
Guess this lowers the theoretical barriers to the sexbot market.
We'll see robot girlfriends purposefully installing Microsoft software for the plausible deniability upon contracting a virus.
Wish I could quarantine my W32.Herpes/Worm. :'(
Clifford, stop being such a Nass!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Mr Nass has shown his hand with such an obvious propoganda piece (which I didn't read - its how i keep my mind free of the effects of such manipulations), clearly he is a cylon.....
I'll throw it down a flight of stairs and give them these black and blue smudges on their LCD screens every now and then; but I only do it because I love them, and they have to learn that when I say "bitch, automake me a Makefile," I expect it now and nothing should be reporting to standard error. I'm that machine's user because it wasn't good enough for anybody else.
And you think they remember past events now. if they were like computers you would have to pray for it to crash. Queue Brand jokes.
Most of the time, I want to kick my computer's ass. My laptop has been raised over my head for smashing many times, but fortunately for my wallet, I haven't followed through.
If it were a woman, it would've been dumped long ago. Probably on the first date.
If it doesn't involve typing, I actually prefer to use the internet on my phone over the computer. Way less frustrating.
This sentence no verb.
I'd say if the "program wasn't helpful", people wouldn't want to waste their time "optimizing" a lousy computer/OS. Much like they don't want to polish a turd.
I'd say the opposite is true as well - when your computer isn't being helpful you'd also treat it more like an annoying person. When a certain paperclip showed up on a certain program, I'd say out loud "Oh would you FUCK OFF already!!?!".
Global warming and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking number of pirates - Gospel of the FSM
Why would it be superficial to date a self-aware non-biological machine?
Sounds like uppity biological machine talk to me.
... extrapolate social interactions onto non-sentient objects. Would you like me to:
1) Find some friends for you on facebook?
2) Order you some books on interpersonal relationships from Amazon.com?
3) Club CN over the head with a baseball bat, so he'll stop trying to shoehorn 'social' interactions into my goddamn UI.
(And, yes: This is a gross generalization, but not totally untrue.)
**AA: a bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes
... they hate it when you do that.
Prime numbers are exactly what Alan Greenspan says they are -S. Minsky
people often name a ship or classic car. And insist that it has a personality of its own, and that it must be treated with respect. A computer is even more interactive than a ship, so it seems like it might be even easier to anthropomorphize a computer.
That depends on who you ask, and how you phrase the question.
Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
So if people think of their computers as people why do they not care about their computers getting viruses? Some people are ignorant, some are lazy and don't care that their computer/friend has a virus. Some think that it is not their problem! There is clearly a type of person in our society who receive minimal respect for the work they do - in fact they are treated worse than animals!
People who go around giving STDs to people knowingly are prosecuted - why not people who do the same with computers?
Why would you care about your pet or your friend getting sick and not your computer?
As you can see, I respect my follow peoples. (Even if I don't like them... damn Windows people).
I think it is simply too obvious that we would spend time fixing (or nurturing) an application (or relationship) that we believe it worth our time.
Nothing new here... this is simple economics, but his overwhelming eagerness of proving his point he ended up seeing humans everywhere, in science we call it confirmation bias.
Hell, if he can write a book with such an idiotic theme, I should start writing my own book.
(And sometimes we need satires like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ7J7UjsRqg to keep reminding us how "science" might be rediscovering obvious and stupid facts...)
I guess some people anthropomorphize machines including computers. I never have and have never understood why it would be necessary or desireable. But I'm an engineer so I understand most machines down to their smallest components.
God, I didn't think of it before, but i'm horrible.
Much like homeless people asking for change, I'll ignore emails.
Hot Chicks? Can't touch them in person or online.
Both people and computers make me mad sometimes, enough that I want to hit them, but i don't.
Human & computer error messages are hard to understand most the time.
um, i'd write more, but my computer is looking at me funny.
Be seeing you...
Stop all the downloadin! Help computer!
Men want sex
Women want security
I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
people think of their computers as something like human beings.
Perhaps these are the same people who say 'thankyou' to automatic doors?
Anyone quoted by a reporter knows how little they understand
Don't believe what you read is the truth.
It was just a feedback-loop where after pushing some buttons you receive a (audio)visual/sensory reward or result for pushing the buttons in a certain sequence.
As a programmer, you are paid to generate a certain audiovisual result for someone who has learned to ask other people to learn to push the buttons in the right sequence to come to the sensory result (s)he desires.
I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
From TFA :-
Participants in one experiment interacted with a program that said something like "Most PCs these days have at 2MB of memory. Being an older model I only have 1MB. What do you feel inadequate about?"
My emphasis. How old is this news exactly?
A little think called agency. We assign human like qualities to inanimate or even animate creatures. It's pretty much how wolves were domesticated.
If we as a society become more accepting of how we view machines in our daily lives, does that mean that androids will be accepted as part of our daily lives too?
Why not? All your other machinery is accepted. If you start talking "machine rights" I'm going ballistic, though.
An android would be way better than some of the women I know.
Free Martian Whores!