Have you ever spoken to a bot? Let me tell you, it is a truly strange experience.
 
To tell the story, I was setting up my new surround sound receiver. I know, I know all of you vintage stereo aficionados out there are screaming, “Surround sound! Are you kidding me? How could you?” But sorry, though I love the sound of vintage equipment and the quality of sound reproduction it offers, I also love all the technology that the sound system of today (and tomorrow) bring to our listening life.
 
The problem is… If you want to call it that, is that modern sound equipment does not last. If you get a couple of years out of it before it takes a powder, you are lucky. My last main receiver, an Onkyo, gave me about four years until it has now started to die. Thank you, Mr. Onkyo! It was a good run.
 
Just an FYI and a warning here… Never buy a modern receiver used. Though, like my Onkyo they may look brand new, they very well may be dying on the inside.
 
Anyway, so it was time to say goodbye. I picked up a new JBL. I was hooking in up and I ran my TV through it. Which is where I truly enjoy the modern, surround sound technology. Though the setup was easy. Hooking the speakers up went fine and all that. I played some vinyl through the system. All good. A CD. Great. But, when I was hooking up the TV and testing it, moving the digital control this way or that, I ran into a problem. So, I went to Google and asked the question. I just expected a written response. Which I got. What I also received was that a Bot, with a female voice, instantly began to speak with me through my phone. WHAT!!! That totally freaked me out! She would ask me a question. I would answer. She understood completely. She told me what to do next. She asked me what kind of a TV I had. I told her. She told me what to do to get the right signal. It was fucking scary! It was like I was speaking to a person. A person who instantly knew everything and every answer. I guess JBL has some instant hook-up something out there in the ethereal.
 
In truth, that is the first time I have spoken with a Bot. Sure, you get lower dose versions of them sometimes when you are speaking to some automated something. But, this/she was all knowing.
 
I think we have all heard about how some people get really addicted to speaking with a Bot. But, now I get it. It was so real! It felt like I was speaking directly to a person. SCARY!
 
Like I have said for a while now, I love AI. I love what it has to offer and what it can provide to us and for us. But, didn’t anyone see, 2001 A Space Odessey? Remember Hal?  I mean, AI is very quickly going to completely take over our reality. Companies all across the spectrum of life are firing their employees as they are being replaced by AI. I mean, could a real-person have instantly answer every question I posed like that Bot. No way.
 
So, here we are. Like the song I so often quote from the great 1968 film, Wild in the Streets,” proclaims, “Nothing can change the shape of things to come.”
 
This was certainly my wake-up call. Maybe next time, if I speak to another Bot, I won’t be so freaked out. But, what do you do with someone/something that instantly knows everything? I know I don’t know. You tell me the answer.