“In the past, it was indeed people who made machines smart. But we’re getting over that now. Now it is machines that make people smart.” Donald A. Norman: The Design of Future Things, p.178.
Although the above quote is from an imagined machine character in conversation with Norman, I feel great disquiet at calling machines, “Smart.” Several definitions of the word found on the Web include:
• showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness
• bright: characterized by quickness and ease in learning;
• fresh: improperly forward or bold; "don't be fresh with me";
We are becoming very accustomed to talk describing technology as ‘Smart’ and/or ‘Intelligent’ which implies a level of independent thought that includes emotional, critical, and personal reflection. Surely this can only be ascribed to humans? After all, it is the ‘people’ who have constructed the distinctive language that describe these very particular human attributes and capabilities. Using vocabulary that holds special meaning for humans to describe the attributes of machines tends to accidentally or deliberately mislead.
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