Filters Made of Silicon: Some Humans Are Annoyances in Technology
September 3, 2012
When I lived and worked in Washington, DC, there was a jargon, a set of assumptions, and an entire way of life affected by the gravitational pull of the US government. A “belt way bandit”, for example, was not a pejorative. It was an honor shared among such firms as Booz, Allen & Hamilton, EG&G, Northrop Grumman, SRA, SAIC, and hundreds of other operations. The idea was that a “belt way bandit” knew how to land government contracts and build the space shuttle or a nuclear powered submarine. Sure, some of these outfits did Social Security calculations and assisted other “experts” with tax algorithms. It was a mixed bag. But, in general, everyone knew what the phrase meant in Shady Grove where I lived for a couple of years.
There is a similar gravitational effect operating on Wall Street, although many of the pros operate from Midtown or far off places like Harrod’s Creek. The lingo is understood by those who are in it. If you don’t know the difference between the “buy” side and the “sell” side, you may want to check out your financial advisor or do some Yandexing.
In today’s dead tree edition of the nation’s newspaper, I read “When GPS Confuses, You May Be to Blame.” If you still have a library, you may be able to read the story on page 3 of the business section in the September 2, 2012 paper. If you are a thrill seeker, you can try this link. The point of the story is that from the point of view of engineers and Silicon Valley types wherever they may reside, humans demonstrate an inability to use a digital map.
to figure out how stupid humans are, researchers studied the aberrant and concluded that humans who are not with it are the reason people follow GPS directions off cliffs or try to drive home to LA when the human is really in Haines, Alaska. Here is the passage I enjoyed:
Human error, as it turns out, was responsible for many of the problems that occurred. When a driver exited the highway to pick up cupcakes while en route to another destination and wanted to return to the highway, her passenger entered the wrong highway junction for the device to use in recalculating the route, so the turn-by-turn directions were wrong. This was not the fault of the software developers or a map deficiency, but the driver nonetheless placed the blame on the object that was most handy: “These GPS things — it’s really confusing.” (“Ahh, shut up,” the passenger said.)
Stupid humans. The write up then concluded with a spectacular description of the situation:
But no technology, however sophisticated, will ever completely eradicate the Normal Natural Troubles of Driving With Humans.
Well, the Silicon Valley filter knows what the fix is. Driverless cars. A stupid human can rely on a computer system to predict where he or she has to go, configure the auto-drive vehicle, get in, and play a video game. No traffic jams. No accidents. No stupid humans yelling at a GPS.
I have to admit that I am baffled about the interface for the three different brands of GPS which we have tested. Among the issues we have encountered are:
- Baffling methods to obtain traffic data
- Inability to pinpoint a location without blundering through layers and layers of menus
- Device’s inability to “remember” locations
- Maps, which after being updated, do not show major roads
- Mysterious blank spaces in major metropolitan areas
- Odd ball color schemes which “sense” light changes at noon
I rented a Ford Focus with GPS and Sync. I couldn’t figure out how to adjust the fan or turn on the radio. I had only one engineer with me. By the time we got the air conditioner on, we had arrived at the destination. We did not even try the GPS.
Several observations.
First, for those living in the “beltway bandit” filter, the “Wall Street” filter, or the “Silicon Valley” filter—the real world does not register. Wrong frequency. When a consultant or a banker tries to explain to a 99 percenter what he or she does, the result is confusion and a often a condescending smile. Was it my mother’s fault she did not understand my work in Washington, or was it my fault? Obviously she was the “problem.” Human=problem unless you “get it” via some shared ethos. Since her death, I have entertained the idea that perhaps I did not make much of an effort to explain what I did for Admiral Craig Hosmer in his office before a Congressional hearing.
Second, the notion that the devices are “right” is another signal that the engineering culture can make gizmos work and humans are simply too inferior to understand the elegance of the design. I am getting along in years, and I have to tell you that “understanding” is not “intuitive”. That is a crock of burned baked beans. Engineers see the world through a filter and produce outputs like Bob, STAIRS III, and the BlackBerry Bold. Each of these “engineering wonders” is unfathomable without quite a bit of effort. And after that effort, some aspects of the “engineering miracles” are dumb, weird, or plain crazy.
Third, the proliferation of smart software along with the “humans are stupid” theme is a recipe for more confusion. Don’t believe me. Try to find the Bluetooth wireless speaker setting in Mac OSX or make the desktop appear without cartoons and weird colors in Windows 8. Better yet assign a station to a 2013 Lexus radio. Try to get a dirty scanner at an airport boarding gate to “recognize” the digital boarding pass.
Humans have varying degrees of competence. People can be bad in one thing and good in another. The Silicon Valley filter is not performing as well as those equipped with the filter believe. How do I know? Buy a new mobile device and set it up. How long, inferior human, did it take you? Your fault obviously.
Technology is not a problem per se. I think technological humans wearing Silicon Valley filters are the problem.
Stephen E Arnold, September 3, 2012
Sponsored by Augmentext
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