Human Nature is strange. We feel some irresistible urge to personify any machinery
that we contact with. I don't know what makes us do this but we do. Is it because
progress is travelling so rapidly that we feel uncomfortable with machines of any
sort playing a major part in our lives? Machines lack any sort of 'human nature' and have appeared
cold and unforgiving in the past. Machines were tools for us to use and maybe we
felt uncomfortable when the tools grew to such a size or complexity that we really
didn't understand how they worked. Only by putting a name to a machine did we feel more
comfortable about using them.
We often talk to our machines when they don't do what we ask them to so. If your car
won't start you initially give encouragement. But if it continues to not start, we
soon get angry and abuse it. Do we really think that it hears us and starts because
we are asking it to? Machines aren't the only things that get this treatment from us.
Animals get the same behaviour from us. Just because they have a nose, mouth, 2 eyes
and ears we enjoy putting human faces onto these animals. A dog who is panting with
their teeth bare is seen to be 'smiling' and happy.
Does your Mac have a personality? We definitely know that Macs have more of a 'personality'
than PC computers. Or do we create the personality by adding what features we want
to our Mac. Macs allow us the luxury to 'personalise' our Mac the way we want it
to be. It can be as wacky or as 'normal' as we wish to make it. So if we are adding
personality to our machine, do we also create a 'sex' for it?
Cars and ships have always been female. Where does that leave the modern computer?
Do you have a name for your Mac? Is it male or female? Mac's contain a motherboard
and a daughterboard! Is this an indication to their sex? Why not a Fatherboard or
Sonboard? Is the computer industry sexist by nature? So many questions. And too few answers!
Do you use some form of Apple Speech with your Mac? If so, do you choose a male or
female voice to answer your requests? What does this tell you about you? Do you want
your Mac to be a certain sex? As progress marches on and we get closer to the artificial intelligence that we hope will come to our computers in the next few years, how will
this intelligence communicate to us, what voice will be chosen?
This interesting area obviously needs some more thought and discussion, and could
be the topic of an Internet discussion group in the future.