Life as Auto-Complete
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain
We've all been there: Start typing in a text field, and a little wizard finishes your sentence for you. He's hidden behind a curtain, always prompting. Sometimes, he's completely wrong; but most times, he's scarily right on the mark.
It's not magic. The wizard is just an algorithm suggesting words that are most likely to follow the phrase you began with. It's called auto-complete or predictive text.
So, for example, if I start responding to an email with "Thank..."
He offers me: "...you for your email." I can tab to the end of the line and accept his suggestion. It's the easiest way out. I could come up with something a little more personal, like "Thanks for getting in touch—I always enjoy our conversations," but I'm lazy.
How does the algorithm decide what's "most likely?" Using vast data sets scraped from the Internet, it analyzes language patterns to determine common phrases and context. Some algorithms even track your own typing history to gather more data and to create more "personal" suggestions.
But auto-complete isn't confined to the digital world. As I go about my day, the wizard is at work in me, too. Don't we all respond automatically in certain situations? Someone criticizes me, and without thinking, I respond angrily. Someone asks me for a favor, and without thinking, I say yes. Someone gives me bad news, and without thinking, I respond with tears.
But wouldn't it be better:
If someone criticizes me, I first pause to decide if the criticism is right or wrong, and then respond rationally?
If someone asks for a favor, I first pause to consider my schedule and capabilities, and then see if I can accommodate him?
If someone gives me bad news, I first pause to consider where I am at the moment, and then decide if it's the right place and time for tears?
The wizard is always pulling the levers. We always choose the same high-cholesterol meal at our favorite restaurant, when maybe, considering what the doctor said, a salad might be better for us. We always click on the same news channel at 6 pm, when maybe, considering that we've heard this channel slants the news, a different one might give us the real story. And we always stick with the same political party, when maybe, considering many, many things, a different party or no party at all might be best for the country.
Auto-complete is about convenience and comfort, and laziness. What can you do to avoid auto-complete?
Guilty of using auto conplete often.