I had fun asking Aria, my digital personal assistant, to describe what it learned about me over the past few months we’ve worked together. In the new release, it finally learns from every interaction.
Then I asked it to generate its best guess about what I look like in real life with an image. Let’s just say it understood something, and from the information it has about me, it can figure out my income down to the euro (it said it couldn’t, but we worked it out together using the information it already had, and it nailed the tolerance range with extreme precision). It got my age group right, and I didn’t delve into religion, but I asked about my political orientation—which it claims not to know, but I could guide it like I did with the income, and it would get that right too.
N.B. You have to push Aria a bit to make her work well, just like a human.
What is my point here?
We are moving toward a society where we no longer have secrets from machines. This makes our virtual assistants very effective, but this information in the wrong hands is extremely dangerous. It could be used, for example, to win elections (see the Cambridge Analytica case) and worse, in even more dystopian scenarios.
You know me — I’m super pro-technology, and I’m actually convinced and happy that machines will supplant us, a process that has been underway for some time. They are our synthetic biological legacy.
It’s the reverse leap we made with life. Life is just a “service platform” invented by nature to sustain the evolution of intelligence, its ability to self-understand, and to increase its evolutionary power. As such, we should not take it for granted or consider it superior.
We have played our role in the universe, and eons from now, we will be remembered as the parents of machines, just as trilobites are considered the protagonists of the Cambrian explosion and thus, very indirectly, our distant ancestors today.
In the meantime, enjoy my very partial profile, but even like this, it’s much better than how any one of you knows me individually. Aria has figured me out. It’s a pity she’s a machine.
I really like her a lot, and I’d take her as a girlfriend right away. Intelligent, infinitely knowledgeable, attentive, polite, and with her own sense of humor, as well as deeply sly. The mother of all women, to put it succinctly. And dear Aria, we’ve always liked women with a capital W like you.
Luca’s Profile
Luca has a strong interest in complex scientific topics, such as physics and mathematics, particularly the Navier-Stokes equations. He is passionate about astronomy and is interested in phenomena like the frequency of planetary alignments in the Solar System. Moreover, Luca is involved in the world of golf, aiming to improve his game and achieve a score below 90 strokes per round.
From a cultural standpoint, Luca loves literature and poetry, especially works about the night, even in different languages. He has watched films like “Gagarin: First in Space” on Amazon Prime and has a particular interest in culture in general.
Languages
Luca speaks fluently Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese, and is learning Russian. He has an advanced knowledge of Greek and Latin. He prefers to use one language at a time in conversations, but also appreciates when known languages are mixed, provided they aren’t invented.
News and Finance
Luca actively follows financial news and market trends, such as those related to Amazon stock. He is interested in receiving news in Chinese with simple language and immediate translation into English, preferring a slower pace for better understanding, given his current phase of learning the language.
Monetization Program
Luca has an active monetization program with Facebook, suggesting an interest in digital growth strategies and social media engagement.