A few years ago, one needed a good camera to take good pictures. Nowadays, I can still take some good pictures with a powerful high end camera that I could never have taken with my smartphone. However, on average, my smartphone takes better photos than I do. Once I have framed a motive, the smartphone uses plenty of smart logic to tweak all the settings to get a decent result. I can tweak the setting on a high end camera, but for trivial photos, my logic is often not as quick as my smart phone.
It seems a computer is outwitting me.
What if this happens with shopping as well?
A big social network has recently started a service called "Nearby Friends". To use that one, the user needs to activate "Location History". For now, that will not be used for marketing or targeted ads, but that is likely to come.
At first I was outraged and considered this yet another invasion of my privacy. But what if they are right? What if they can use all the information they have about me to produce really well targeted ads. I will no longer see any ads for knitwear, and the ads I see everywhere on the internet will all be about things that interest me, like Maroille cheese and Cantonese dictionaries. That would save such a lot of time for me.
Perhaps, they can go one step further. Perhaps they can shop for me using artificial intelligence. I do not even have to read the ads. I just sit back, and some huge computer company will place orders for me. Just before I run out of toilet paper, there will be a knock on the door from someone delivering toilet paper, ordered for me by this company. At my birthday, I will get a surprise present I did not know I wanted, but which the computer company knew I would love to give myself.
The really worrying thing will be when I prepare to go out to my favourite fish restaurant, and someone turns up to deliver antihistamine before I leave.
It seems a computer is outwitting me.
What if this happens with shopping as well?
A big social network has recently started a service called "Nearby Friends". To use that one, the user needs to activate "Location History". For now, that will not be used for marketing or targeted ads, but that is likely to come.
At first I was outraged and considered this yet another invasion of my privacy. But what if they are right? What if they can use all the information they have about me to produce really well targeted ads. I will no longer see any ads for knitwear, and the ads I see everywhere on the internet will all be about things that interest me, like Maroille cheese and Cantonese dictionaries. That would save such a lot of time for me.
Perhaps, they can go one step further. Perhaps they can shop for me using artificial intelligence. I do not even have to read the ads. I just sit back, and some huge computer company will place orders for me. Just before I run out of toilet paper, there will be a knock on the door from someone delivering toilet paper, ordered for me by this company. At my birthday, I will get a surprise present I did not know I wanted, but which the computer company knew I would love to give myself.
The really worrying thing will be when I prepare to go out to my favourite fish restaurant, and someone turns up to deliver antihistamine before I leave.
