Why Hal Will Never Exist 325
aengblom writes "Researchers at the University of Maryland's
Human-Computer Interaction Lab are suggesting what many of us have already
guessed. The future of human-computer interaction won't be through speech--it
will remain visual (they explain why). The
Washington Post is running a story
about the researchers and how they think we will get computers to do what we want. The article is a fascinating read and is joined by a great
video clip (real
or quicktime)
of the researchers and their methods. The Post is holding an online
discussion with the researchers tomorrow. Also check-out Photomesa
the lab's software program that helps track images on a computer. (Throw a directory
with a 1,000 high-res files at this thing and you can justify that pricey new
computer you bought)."
Comment removed (Score:2, Interesting)
Speaking is just plain messy... (Score:2, Interesting)
We're pretty well-adapted to using tools with our hands and getting feedback on what they're doing with video/audio/feel coming back from that tool, but not the other way. Speaking works naturally for nattering with friends
There's no way I'd advocate the -stopping- of speech systems research, as there are people who have incredible trouble typing due to various impediments. Besides the direct uses, every piece of research had a dozen uses other than it's intended purpose.
The simple solution... (Score:2, Interesting)
...have both. I want to be able to give the computer voice commands when I feel like it, visual commands when I feel like it... and just use the darn keyboard an' mouse when I feel like it, too.
Interesting findings, but they're not going to get out of providing good voice interfaces that easily :-)
Thinking out loud? (Score:5, Interesting)
What that means, basically, is that it's hard to speak and think at the same time.
I don't know about this statement, I always find it easier to write and/or think when I am expressing my thoughts out loud. Wasn't this something we were tought in school, like it's easier to read out loud than silently? Mind you having done two years of psychology I realise there is a lot differing opinions about how the brain works, so can any psychology graduates tell me if his statement is true?
Re:Single Modality? (Score:4, Interesting)
Aside from this, making a speech interface anyone wants to use isn't about the speech; it's about the natural-language comprehension that most people (naively?) associate with speech recognition; e.g., the Enterprise's computer. Which, you note, the crew interact with on a technical level visually.
As for the specific example of italicizing text, natural language understanding should give rise to accurate _dictation_ systems, where the computer will insert the appropriate puncuation and emphases as you speak. If you're typing, instead, CTRL+I is your friend.
-_Quinn
Bad logic. (Score:2, Interesting)
The future of computing holds so much potential in terms of horsepower that something HAL-like will not only be inevitable, but necessary in order to harness and package that horsepower. It may not happen tomorrow, or even 20 years from now, but presenting a a thinking machine to the user is the only way to encompass such capability for us humans to enjoy. We've already got a situation where most personal computers spend 99.9% of their lives waiting for us to do something. Machine sentience is not only the best, but the most elegant and efficient way to handle it. What use is having a machine at all, if it spends the vasst majority of its time idle?
The term "operating system" will be deprecated someday, replaced with something akin to "personality engine" or "anthroderm".
And yes, it irritates me to no end when someone predicts something wont happen in the future, rather than proposing how and when it will.
Cheers,
The real issue (Score:3, Interesting)
There is no doubt that computers with greater intelligence - ie an ability to learn and adapt - than ourselves will be here, probably in the next 20 - 25 years.
When these machines get here they may well decide that speaking is a waste of their time.
Re:Hmmm. Photomesa... (Score:2, Interesting)
Think in terms of the real world where you can inspect your intended target from a distance and decide what the best route is to get there. That can't happen in 2D w/o alot of cumbersome reference (ala CLI).
3D allows for XYZ movement and perspective enabling 4D decisions.
If you knew that you had a setup workspace to your left and a differently setup workspace to your right and again one above you and below and 10 units in front and back and then could alternate the forementioned space with any one of the points mentioned... spatial division in 3D, would you not be more productive than having to dig repeatedly in to a hole/plane?
Why Will Hal Never Exist? (Score:2, Interesting)
We've put a man on the moon, split the atom, discovered the building blocks of life, cloned life, and created a globe spanning network of information. A hundred years before each of these discoveries were made, people could only imagine such things, and they were really considered Science Fiction.
Science Fiction has proven many times to be prophecy. Artificial Intelligence is hard SF. It has basis in the real world. I may come to pass. It may not, as well. But to say we will never be able to create "HAL" is ridiculous. It may be 100 years, and "never in our lifetimes" may be accurate. But it may happen. Never rule our science.
I'm done.
The_Shadows[LTH], out.
Re:Nonsense! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I agree (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm actually looking in to the possibility of setting up such a system for myself (mostly for hack-value, of course
Re:and you can't say two things at the same time.. (Score:2, Interesting)
A comment like "Insert a five iteration for-loop" would be quicker thant typing:
"for(int i=0;i5;i++){}"
As "Move the most recent ten office documents to my folder", would be quicker than clickettyclickettyclickclick-click/home/user/clic
Useful speech processing, but not HAL... (Score:2, Interesting)
Perhaps it is because speech interpretation is unfamiliar and underdeveloped. It is difficult to use a speech interface in a crowded office without annoying others. Most able-bodied people would chose to use a visual-tactile interface for most tasks. What gets used gets supported, and what gets supported gets used. However, this does not mean that speech interpretation is inherently flawed. For example...
I don't know what to think about this article... (Score:3, Interesting)
Case inpoint, today computers are normally designed around some kind of windows environment, a Wimp interface, where information in displayed as a metaphore, ie scoll bars, ok buttions etc etc. This is an environment that was never designed for interact beyound a mouse and a keyboard. DVD however do not follow this standard, normally being based on some kind of menu system. Clearly, the way you make something determines the way it is used.
If speech is to be a sucess on computers then the way that people interact with the computer needs to be changed. I think a system like the console where programs arn't very powerfull on their own but due to the way that they have been linked together would work very very well.
I long for the day when I can say, "dump down everything on slashdot and tell me if any of my post have been modded up" to read wget somesite | grep index.html | echo $whatever (please excluse this example), all you would need is somekind of AL which is able to manage the interpreation correctlly (at least most of the time).
I think, fundamentally, computers should be designed to so what you tell them to do (how I think such a system would work) and not force you to do things in a certain way, which is what current systems do today, One should never have to learn a interface.
I also think that this guy has limited his imagination somewhat, the main thing about hal was that he was everywhere, and that in the future, computers are everywhere. For example if you were on the loo, and just thought up a really good chess move, then you would just say, Hal queen to bishop 4, not get up, sit at a console, login a realise you've forgotten what it was you where about to do. Saying that in such a case it's easier to point to some graphic, cause you don't have to think to much, Seems kinda lame
HAL Exists, in 2 PII boxes (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Wrong (Score:1, Interesting)
Some people (me, for example), _think_ by having a mental picture of "words on a page". I've talked to some people who "think" with a little voice in their head - I don't, I see words writing themselves on a page. Maybe because I learned to read very young, or something. I read at a max of about 3000 words per minute (seriously).
When you think about it... (Score:2, Interesting)
... HAL's most important human-to-computer information exchange (well, one-directional I guess) in the movie was a non-verbal one - where he read Frank and Dave's lips.
Speech Recognition (Score:2, Interesting)
Most of us here are fairly comfortable with a CLI, because we know the commands to use. However, we're in the vast minority.
We've already advanced past the CLI, past using command keywords towards using visually intuitive interfaces. Speech recognition would be even worse than going back to using CLIs as the primary interface, because I know most people can type rm ~/foo/blah.js faster than tey can speak it to a computer. Probably even more people can just drag the icon for the file to the trash can even faster.
However, where speech recognition can be useful is in dictation.
FYI: I had an opportunity to speak with Ben. (Score:1, Interesting)
In fact, I had a great argument with him in front of about 500 people. Something to the effect of
The average user is not looking to learn some geeky interface. The average user simply wants answers. They want the computer to do the real work and give them the answer they are looking for. When a person has questions, what do they want? They want someone on the phone with the answers. They want someone competent at the help desk. They want to push a Star in their fancy car and feel like there is someone there with them to make things better. They want mom and dad to provide the answer to "What's that?" Voice may be difficult for a computer to master, but it is core to human interactions. Sorry Ben. I just disagree.
Re:Finally... (Score:2, Interesting)
The videogame generation is quite adept at using their thumbs for input on small handheld devices while older people still use the other fingers.
Re:Single Modality? (Score:3, Interesting)
Latin??? (Score:1, Interesting)