Hello and welcome to episode three of the Situation Normal podcast! I’m Michael Estrin and write Situation Normal for people who take their humor with a side of humanity and a dash of insight. The Situation Normal podcast has the same vibe as the newsletter, but instead of reading, you can listen to me tell stories to my friend Todd.
In this episode, I tell Todd about my battles with our Alexa, which might be trying to kill me. Then we talk about two stories involving text messages. In one story, texting technology robs us of our humanity, but in the other story, texting technology helps us find our humanity. It’s complicated. Then we make things even more complicated by talking about Now and Then, the last Beatles song that some people call “AI John Lennon.” I wrote about Now and Then in a recent post titled “Do baristas dream of electric Beatles?”
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and who unknowingly contributed insightful comments that I referenced in this podcast. Great job, guys!How to listen to the Situation Normal podcast🎧
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Stick around and chat💬
Anyone can answer these questions, but it’s a lot more fun if you 🎧listen🎧 to the 🎤podcast🎤 first.
Has Alexa ever tried to kill you, or have you just seen 2001: A Space Odyssey too many times. Be honest, Dave!
What kind of surgery did Birgit receive? Was it a third arm? Wrong answers encouraged!
Is John Lennon Skynet and should we be worried about AI?
Have you experienced “tech lash”? Tell your story!
Does technology serve us, or do we serve technology? Go deep!
Have you rated & reviewed the Situation Normal podcast, then told all your friends to listen? Hint: the correct answer is, “Right on top of that, Rose!”
Episode 3: AI John Lennon, or user error?