It may have been around awhile, but I heard the way humans think and feel described as "cognitive infrastructure" today for the first time. That sounds nuts!
That's a new one to me! I've heard a lot of "cognitive offloading" lately, that has become popular. Once the metaphor is deeply embedded in the language and the culture, all other "reasonable" thoughts and expressions want to build on it, extend it, both to communicate clearly and to "seem valid" to listeners who are already using these ideas in their minds. To me, it's worth pushing back against, because I am an irrational animal that might even have a "soul," dang it ! :D
I always love your posts. Reading this one, I kept thinking about my AI interaction with Fedex today. I was informed by email that my package was not delivered as scheduled today because no one was available at the delivery address (no signature was required for delivery and the email went out at 4:16 am). I tried to call to speak to a human to get it straightened out. I tried "representative", but AI wouldn't let me proceed without supplying a tracking number. It then repeatedly told me the tracking number I provided was not in their system before hanging up on me. I tried calling back and giving the tracking number for a previous delivery, at which point AI gave me all the information associated with that delivery and again hung up on me.
I figured I'll wait and see what happens tomorrow, and if I don't get the delivery decide how much time I want to bang my head against the wall trying to speak to someone (preferably human) who speaks my language. I tried to make this short, but the upshot is that human/AI interactions invariably seem to lead to a catch 22. "You can't get there from here", says AI, "goodbye"!
Along with mis- and dis- information come scams! I don't know if that's what you're dealing with, but I do occasionally get texts telling me that I have a fed ex package coming when I do not, and it's a phishing attempt. Sometimes I receive one when I DO have a package coming and I know the package is coming, and that coincidence makes me more likely to fall for it, I have to be very focused to resist and just wait and see if a package comes or doesn't. But this is the problem with living in an information based world: we can be diverted to dealing with hassles -- and sometimes (not always) phantom hassles! -- because we care and we live in a social world where things MEAN things. Whereas the machines and the scammers alike just send out their messages, try to "get" something (money or data -- but data is money!) and don't care.
I am very cautious of scammers. I have the fedex app and went to it after I got the email. The app gave me the same information, and that’s when I tried calling.
Update: the package was delivered today (I could have saved myself a lot of time and frustration by procrastinating).
Thanks for looking out for me.
Unfortunately, even if this had been a scam, I would not have been able to talk to a human at fedex about it because their AI gatekeepers can’t understand nuance.
It may have been around awhile, but I heard the way humans think and feel described as "cognitive infrastructure" today for the first time. That sounds nuts!
That's a new one to me! I've heard a lot of "cognitive offloading" lately, that has become popular. Once the metaphor is deeply embedded in the language and the culture, all other "reasonable" thoughts and expressions want to build on it, extend it, both to communicate clearly and to "seem valid" to listeners who are already using these ideas in their minds. To me, it's worth pushing back against, because I am an irrational animal that might even have a "soul," dang it ! :D
I always love your posts. Reading this one, I kept thinking about my AI interaction with Fedex today. I was informed by email that my package was not delivered as scheduled today because no one was available at the delivery address (no signature was required for delivery and the email went out at 4:16 am). I tried to call to speak to a human to get it straightened out. I tried "representative", but AI wouldn't let me proceed without supplying a tracking number. It then repeatedly told me the tracking number I provided was not in their system before hanging up on me. I tried calling back and giving the tracking number for a previous delivery, at which point AI gave me all the information associated with that delivery and again hung up on me.
I figured I'll wait and see what happens tomorrow, and if I don't get the delivery decide how much time I want to bang my head against the wall trying to speak to someone (preferably human) who speaks my language. I tried to make this short, but the upshot is that human/AI interactions invariably seem to lead to a catch 22. "You can't get there from here", says AI, "goodbye"!
Along with mis- and dis- information come scams! I don't know if that's what you're dealing with, but I do occasionally get texts telling me that I have a fed ex package coming when I do not, and it's a phishing attempt. Sometimes I receive one when I DO have a package coming and I know the package is coming, and that coincidence makes me more likely to fall for it, I have to be very focused to resist and just wait and see if a package comes or doesn't. But this is the problem with living in an information based world: we can be diverted to dealing with hassles -- and sometimes (not always) phantom hassles! -- because we care and we live in a social world where things MEAN things. Whereas the machines and the scammers alike just send out their messages, try to "get" something (money or data -- but data is money!) and don't care.
I am very cautious of scammers. I have the fedex app and went to it after I got the email. The app gave me the same information, and that’s when I tried calling.
Update: the package was delivered today (I could have saved myself a lot of time and frustration by procrastinating).
Thanks for looking out for me.
Unfortunately, even if this had been a scam, I would not have been able to talk to a human at fedex about it because their AI gatekeepers can’t understand nuance.
I want to be Bender.