I got a little technological help today. Unfortunately it was not the helpful kind of help.
I attend some remote precense meeting that are mediated by a bespoke telephone-based system rather than by internet. This is driven in part by the institutional inertia that comes with having had the system for a long time, but mostly by security concerns. So I dial in, switch to speaker, and prop my cell phone against my monitor stand. It has to be a cell phone because we don't have a landline.
The conference involves our sponsors, so we keep a separate chat channel open for communication amungst ourselves.
On the conference today I finsihed answering a questions and waited for a response. And waited. And waited. And noticed that the line seemed deader than usual. I enquire on the chat channel if there is a problem with the conference, and a colleague (another parent of young children as it happens) writes back "I don't know, but someone has to get in the car seat to get a ice cream."
A horrified glance out the window is enough to confirm the worst. There is the babysitter loading the toddler into my wife's car. The phone has linked to the car and my colleagues and sponsers are hearing all about the proposed trip to get ice cream.
I want it to do that, but not now
I have no one to blame but myself. Unless I can blame Apple a little, too. That sounds good. I'll do that.
Usually I want the phone to pair with the car as soon as it comes on and without asking me if that is a good idea. But maybe the behavior should be varied when there is already a phone call in progress? Especially if I am already using the speaker. Or something. I'm frustrated that progress in AI has produced a lot of powerful spying tools and general creepiness, but damn all context sensitive decision making for real life.
