Vocab-news-lary story #3 (Blog Post 11): Humans and Computers

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/01/tech/innovation/computers-humans-science/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

Humans, Robots, and the Relationships Between Them
Balthasar Salazari

Humans are weird when it comes to technology: We assign our GPS's and phones personalities give them names - and get angry at them, blaming them of iniquities using them as scapegoats for our technological problems.

For example: a recent smart thermostat (the Nest) was designed to use energy as abstemiously as possible. It was set on a pre-programmed sequence, but most users despised it. They saw it as patronizing, and vehemently defied it by changing the temperature themselves, often using more energy. The designer had to return to his atelier and make a new version which had no defaults plugged into it but rather let the users make their own pattern.

In another instance, a researcher rigged two different sets of automatic doors to open differently. One set, when a person walked toward it, would shoot open in a peremptory fashion, while the other opened slowly and vacillated slightly. People perceived the slower door as more perspicacious because it looked like it was pausing and thinking before it opened.

Scientists have made strong leaps forward in the field of self-driving cars over the past few years. While the idea of going places without ever having to drive may sound practically dulcet to your ears, it's unlikely that the conventional car will ever become archaic. People don't trust self-driving cars: there is too much of a cultural awareness of fictional robot uprisings. No, really. The idea that robots will usurp us once we trust them too much, while ludicrous, is a commonly accepted axiom.

In the ultimate step in humanizing technology, one researcher is designing a robot designed to realistically resemble a human head that displays pellucid emotions. Ideally, the robots would be so lifelike that a human could form an actual relationship with them. Needless to say, this level of intimacy with a robot wouldn't be for everyone, and would probably have some people reaching for their talisman.

You make is sound like the robot uprising has begun! This is so %$#@ing creepy I can't even. Rewrite it, maybe make it so I won't have nightmares.
-Autumn

Autumn, please! Expurgate yourself! You do realize this is going on my blog, don't you?
-Balthasar

What?
-Autumn