{"id":7612,"date":"2017-01-11T17:19:16","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T23:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/?p=7612"},"modified":"2017-01-11T17:19:16","modified_gmt":"2017-01-11T23:19:16","slug":"predicting-dull-prose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2017\/01\/11\/predicting-dull-prose\/","title":{"rendered":"Predicting Dull Prose"},"content":{"rendered":"

Veronique Greenwood reports<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0in NewScientist<\/strong><\/em> (17 December 2016, paywall) how typing completion may affect our self-expression<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Presented with pre-digested options, will we grow less creative? \u201cThe danger of getting very formulaic in how people express themselves is a real one,\u201d says Kushler.<\/p>\n

Evan Selinger, a professor of philosophy at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, who writes about the effects of predictive text, notes that both Apple\u2019s QuickType and Google\u2019s Allo messaging service offer pre-packaged responses. Presented with a photo of a friend skydiving, Allo might offer you the choice of the following replies:<\/p>\n

\u201cHow exciting!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo brave!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow fun!\u201d<\/p>\n

Although this software can study your habits, letting the program choose a comment that sounds like you, it\u2019s still you at your most generic. And while generic might appease the immediate needs of friendship, it\u2019s not particularly satisfying. Studies on outsourcing suggest that putting less effort into a behaviour makes you feel less responsible for its effects, both good and bad. This kind of communication actually creates distance. And Selinger points out that prediction eliminates the possibility for whimsy that often makes human interaction rewarding: it mistakes the predictable for the inevitable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Letting us pretend at communication and friendship, just as games let us pretend at shooting each other. But let’s be honest: some of us need hints like these in order to fit into society – the neuro-atypical, for example. Some would even argue that blogs (today) or BBSes (2-3 decades ago) were warping how to interact with our fellow man. Being one of those who finds it easier to write than to talk to someone, I just have to say – we’re not all the same. Some of us function wonderfully in close contact – and some of us need the space to think before opening our mouths. Perhaps confirming this point, Veronique concludes:<\/p>\n

But in English, the first 10 Google search results for \u201cpredictive text\u201d, as it happens, contain instructions for turning it off.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Veronique Greenwood reports\u00a0\u00a0in NewScientist (17 December 2016, paywall) how typing completion may affect our self-expression: Presented with pre-digested options, will we grow less creative? \u201cThe danger of getting very formulaic in how people express themselves is a real one,\u201d says Kushler. Evan Selinger, a professor of philosophy at Rochester Institute \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7612"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7613,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7612\/revisions\/7613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}