© 2020 Christopher Allen. All Rights Reserved
Do you remember the Heuristically Programmed ALgorithmic Computer? It was called HAL for short. Specifically the operational model was known as the HAL 9000. It was used to control the systems of the Discovery One spacecraft and interact with the ship’s astronaut crew. Maybe you don’t remember. It’s fiction from the 1968 movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”. However most probably do since Stanley Kubrick’s epic film has also been said to feature the most famous of all cinematic computers. Personally, I’ll settle for the machines that even precede HAL. Such as the ‘star’ of the 1957 film “Desk Set” starring Spencer Tracey and Katherine Hepburn. Their computer was the EMERAC, short for “Electromagnetic MEmory and Research Arithmetical Calculator.” ‘She’ would later be more affectionately called ‘Emmie.” We can even go further back, in that the fictional EMERAC was a play on the real ENIAC (“Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer”), which was developed in the 1940s and was the first electronic general-purpose computer. Which brings us full circle from the real thing of the 1940s to the very real thing of today. ALEXA.
To some it could appear we have passed into the realm of George Orwell’s 1984. Which, by the way, was published in 1949. There we go reaching back to the 40s again. The folks back then knew something was coming. Anyway, it’s been reported elsewhere the good people at Lab 126 chose the name Alexa for their version of an Artificial Intelligence personal assistant because of how the vocal sound helped trigger the device as well as a Star Trek reference to the great library of Alexandria and it having been the ‘keeper of all knowledge’. Today it should be Amazon known as the keeper of all knowledge. Yes, the full proper name of Alexa is Amazon Alexa. And Amazon is the parent company of Lab 126, the developer and maker of Alexa. Amazon Lab126 was founded in 2004. It is currently based in California with 3000 employees. To make our lives easier… and easier to track… they have given us the Amazon Kindle, Fire Phone, Fire TV, and of course the Amazon Alexa and accompanying Amazon Echo and Echo Dot.
Did anyone say, “Privacy?” Relax, there is none. Seriously. Forget about it. Today there is a surveillance camera of some type every few feet. Every move we make is seen and recorded. Inside our homes we now have loads of ‘smart’ devices that do the same in the privacy of our own homes. ‘Smart’ phones, ‘Smart’ TVs, voice actuated personal assistants such as Alexa, and the list will grow. In some form or fashion everything you say or do is seen and heard. And recorded. This is a fact, not paranoia speaking. In fact I’m saying we probably need to get over it and relax because there’s nothing we can do about it. We traded our privacy for convenience. Enjoy it.
“Alexa! Play… ‘Desk Set’.”
Christopher Allen, Author 