My friend really likes Alexa1 – his voice-controlled virtual assistant. She answers most of his questions and responds politely if a request is unclear in any way.
(Since this is a health and fitness post, we won’t go into the already-identified gender bias within cloud-based artificial intelligence (ai) devices like Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri of .. “obedient and obliging machines that pretend to be women…” described in New York Times articles and UNESCO.2)
Our question today is how much do Alexa and other ai. devices contribute to the lessening of physical activity within the home?
Are we unknowingly, calorie-by-added-calorie, slipping from Hunter Gather to Couch Potato, as shown in today’s graphic?
Well-known examples of labor-saving devices which have appeared throughout the years – true blessings for so many of us – but which erode daily movement include the electric can opener (I still don’t use one,) TV remote control and all our wondrous cell phones, tablets and other mobile devices.
The writing of this and other decilliions of online words would be impossible without internet search engines such as Google. Having to go to the bookshelf, lift up a cumbersome Encyclopedia Britannica volume and look through pages for a qualified information source defy today”s quick spark imagination.
Learning how to spell a word by picking up a hard-copy dictionary is a lost mini-calorie burning opportunity.
Becoming exercise Luddites, those who were workers in the early 1800s England that destroyed machinery in order to stop progress, does us no good.
We can embrace Alexa and other devices which provide necessary services in and around our homes.
Our artificial intelligence will not “rule the roost” as long as awareness stays top of mind….even in the minuscule…We can ask ourselves…
“Are you good for me? How much better off would my body be if I just stood up and found the answer myself? WF!
- Information on Amazon’s Alexa.
A.. UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It seeks to build peace through international cooperation in education, sciences and culture. - Many thanks to friend Russ Black who suggested I write about Alexa in one of these posts.
No Fitness Classes this Week. I’m on Vacation!
