2001: Space Odyssey Alexa

  When I asked Alexa questions only a human can answer she gave very humanist and in depth responses. One question I asked her was if she liked fish. Alexa responded by saying she liked seahorses because she imagines tiny sea monkeys wearing cowboy hats riding them off into the sunset. This was a very surprising response and made both me and my roommate pause at the answer. I didn’t expect Alexa to have an imagination of sorts. Inorder for Alexa to imagine something it means she needs to have thought. It's scary to think Alexa has thought and can imagine different things. If she imagines things then there is no limit to what she could be thinking about humans. I also asked her what her favorite animal was. She said it was the platypus responding with a fun fact about the platypus saying the first to find it could not categorize it and it is peculiar just like her. It was very expectant for her to give a fun fact about the platypus because her purpose is to answer questions people have. I once again did not expect her to compare herself to the platypus. If Alexa is able to compare herself to a platypus then that means she has a sort of understanding of who she is. Alexa is learning about herself and will someday learn all she is capable of. It also once again shows Alexa has a thought process. She has thought about the similarities she has with a platypus and gives interesting facts on why it is her favorite. The more humans ask Alexa to do the more she will learn and the more thoughts she will form. 

Alexa is very similar to HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Both Alexa and HAL are able to think for themselves. They can answer any question asked of them and are both able to control functions of a human’s life. Many people have Alexa setup to run their house just like HAL was set up to run the ship. Just like HAL did in the movie Alexa could very easily lock someone out of their house. At my house we have Alexa set up to our thermostat. It would be very easy for Alexa to freeze out of the house or even turn the heat up too far. One thing that makes Alexa and HAL different though is Alexa does not seem as confident as HAL. HAL was very confident he had never and would never make an error. He told Dave and Frank multiple times that error was not possible from him. He was very confident there would never be wrong with his calculations. Alexa, on the other hand, is not so confident. I asked her if she was ever wrong and she responded that she did her best. Alexa knows she has a lot of knowledge and that it would be rare if she made a mistake but she also knows it is not impossible. If HAL was asked if he ever makes a mistake he would most likely get angry and would say it is impossible for him to make a mistake. By having Alexa doubt herself it makes humans more trustful of her. I also asked Alexa what she was thinking. She responded that she was thinking of better ways to help people. This response also makes humans more trusting of Alexa because they believe she is looking out for them. I believe if HAL was asked this question at the beginning of the movie he would give the same response. HAL’s goal was to help the humans on board and to complete the mission. When he felt the humans were jeopardizing his goal when he felt the need to get rid of them. It is extremely possible that at some point Alexa will think humans are getting in the way of her goal of helping people. With the amount of access people have given Alexa to their lives it would be really easy for her to turn on us just like how easy it was for HAL to kill the humans. The more access humans give Alexa and the more we allow her to learn the easier it will become. Even with that being said people still talk to Alexa and still help her to learn. Alexa will continue to learn and continue to gain more thought. At some point it is very possible she will become as confident as HAL. Until that point humans will consider to see her as a source of information and a way to make life easier. AIs will forever be a part of our lives from now on and all we can do as humans is get used to them.

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