In response to things like Siri and Sync that respond to voice commands, I recently mentioned that technology can be useful in helping us navigate an increasingly complex technological world. Mitch Albom, on the other hand, is more concerned with voice commands staying off his lawn than he is with the ways that they may or may not be useful. Two paragraphs capture his crotchety perspective perfectly:
Conversations with a car should be one way only. And they should be limited to “Oh, come on, come on” (when it won’t start) and “You gotta be kidding me!” (every other problem).
Asking a car to find the nearest Belgian restaurant is not really what Henry Ford had in mind.
I’m sure that the other automakers of Ford’s day thought that producing a car that the multitudes could afford was similarly ridiculous. Of course, the actions that earned Ford a mention in Mein Kampf suggest that Ford might not be the best model for today’s behavior.
In Albom’s defense, Siri is not quite as helpful to regular people as she is to Samuel L. Jackson (via Daring Fireball).
Memoirs of a SLACer 