The Compulsive Copyeditor

November 28, 2018

A Screed against “Need”

Filed under: AI and autocorrect,manipulation through language — amba12 @ 3:20 pm

Copying this from a Facebook post and comments.

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I get a notification in my e-mail that someone has messaged me on Facebook. The e-mail says at the bottom, “You’ll need to use Messenger to see and respond to this message.”

Note that word “need.” That word was carefully chosen. Hours were spent chin-stroking and chortling evilly in a conference room placing that word. Meant to activate subconscious anxiety and craving.

No, I don’t NEED to use Messenger. I will never, ever NEED to use Messenger. I NEEDED to throw it out of my phone because the goddamn voracious data-mining implant monster was eavesdropping on me.

Douglas Harper “Need” has been my most-detested word for several years now. “The video that every Trump supporter NEEDS to see.” “Ten things you NEED to do.” “We NEED to solve this problem right away.”
Annie Gottlieb Very manipulative and infantilizing word.
Annie Gottlieb You have to be very alert to all these nuances. Like how Autocorrect default capitalizes certain words that are also brand names. Watch out or you’ll find yourself eating an Apple and opening all your Windows. Capitalize for capitalism.

Annie Gottlieb They seem to count on the fact that it costs energy, time, and hassle to fight these things and so we will be trained and reinforced to capitulate.

Douglas Harper Right. The default setting in the virtual world is to let the machine be in charge, even of your expression. The deliberate infantilization of the adult mind, or perhaps just a reduction to the common denominator. I suspect the mass of internet users wants it this way, and we’re the curmudgeons. Whether the mass was manipulated into that, to some degree, is the third question. My opinion of the species is sufficiently low that I think democratization alone explains it, mostly.

Annie Gottlieb They may think of it as a convenience that’s just in its early stages and so gets it hilariously wrong at times. AI will keep improving until it merges seamlessly with our wishes. But it is in fact a deliberate undermining of our autonomy.

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