How similar is Siri to a Logic Named Joe?

If you know what a "Logic Named Joe" is, then there are many words that now describe you.  None of which I'm going to view, because they will label me as well. However, it's the title of a 1955 OTR episode of X Minus One.

"Old-Time Radio (OTR) and the Golden Age of Radiorefer to a period of radio_programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the primary home entertainment medium in the 1950s. During this period, when radio was dominant and filled with a variety of formats and genres, people regularly tuned in to their favorite radio programs. In fact, according to a 1947 C. E. Hooper survey, 82 out of 100 Americans were found to be radio listeners." (Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old-time_radio)

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I'm a bit of an OTR fan and have listened to countless hours of Suspense, The Weird Circle, Inner Sanctum Mysteries, The Third Man, Archie Andrews, Fiber McGee and Molly, The Great Guildersleeve, Jack Benny, Phil Harris, The Black Museum and many more.  One of the things I love about these shows is not only how entertaining they were, but the history that is included within them is astounding.  Many of these shows were recorded during WW1 and WW2 and through the Depression.  So to hear the commercials that were broadcast decades ago and the social commentary often puts today's life into perspective.

Getting to my post's topic though, one of my favourite shows is X Minus One.  It was a spin off (so is my understanding) of the show Dimension X and had many science fiction story lines.  It's fascinating to hear some of the things they were dreaming of 50-60 years ago and what we truly have now in our daily lives.

The episode I was re-listening to last night was "A Logic Named Joe".  This story originally was published March 1946 in an issue of Astounding Science Fiction (according to Wikipedia).  It was then redone in July 1950 on Dimension X and recreated again on X Minus One December 1955.  Basically it is a story about a computer (termed in the story a Logic) and a repair man that names it Joe.  Joe develops some AI and with the repair man's tweaking and accessing of information world wide, Joe starts to disseminate results on demand throughout the world and freely.  Hmmmm sounding familiar.

Some of the concerns in the episode is that Joe is sharing information on how to make concoctions so as to remove inebriation and more impressively how pull of perfect crimes (robberies, murders based on hair colour) without getting caught.

I don't have an iPhone (yet), but I have had my friend show me Siri a few times and all the stuff it can do is pretty impressive.  Of course the web has always done that....ask it a question and you'll find the answer.  However with Siri and one being able to ask the question out loud and it respond back, it seemed just too much like this story A Logic Named Joe.  More importantly to remember; the story first came out 65 years ago.

Now I won't spoil how the show wraps up.  You can listen to it off of iTunes.  I did however ask my friend today to ask Siri "How do I kill my wife?" (a line from the show) and I was pretty thankful that since my husband just got an iPhone, that's Siri's answer was...."I don't know what mean."

My 2012 Challenge to the eLearning Community

One of the things that I love and enjoy the most about the "elearning community" is that we seem to thrive on sharing and learning from one another.  I truly want to strive to do this more in the coming year.  I've started most years off with that intention, but the demands of work often get in the way.

That's why I was excited to see a question posed yesterday in the Articulate E-Learning Heroes forum that I could answer.  That feeling that you get when you can teach someone one something else is exciting and joyful.  What's more, when you do it with only the intention to HELP others then the feeling is tenfold.

I'd love to challenge everyone this year to teach or help someone, in our elearning community, with their questions and problems that they may be having.  You'd be amazed how great you'll feel, how much we'll learn together and how much stronger our connected network will become.