“From my perspective as a psychiatrist, Siri, the iPhone’s virtual assistant, could prove more toxic psychologically than violent video games or some street drugs,” Dr. Keith Ablow writes for Fox News.
“Siri is even funny. Tell her you love her, and she replies, ‘All you need is love. And your iPhone.’ Or, ‘You are the wind beneath my wings,'” Ablow writes. “Funny, right? Well, not really—not when you stop to consider that you have just been coaxed to interact with a virtual entity. Perhaps without thinking about it, you have tacitly agreed to use a proper name to refer to a computer program, to agree the computer program has a gender, to laugh at ‘her’ quips and to rely on her to guide you to places to eat or to give you a reminder about when to call home.”
Ablow writes, “I believe that personifying machines and interacting with them as quasi-beings actually dumbs down our interpersonal skills and encourages us to treat other people like machines. Ultimately, it diminishes our ability to empathize with one another, because we’ve been chatting up a non-existent person and can get used to considering real people as essentially non-existent, too… ”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Batshit insane quackery.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “BlackWolf” for the heads up.]
Obviously a Shrink who needs to treat himself.
Shrinks who treat themselves end up spouting bullshit like Siri is addictive and bound to lead to human, Artificial Intelligence, interspecies sex.
I once had a shaggin’ wagon called Brown Betty. I got more tail in that van back in the 60s than I’ve had in all the years since then.
I should have never traded in Brown Betty. I miss her.
Dude, it wasn’t Brown Betty that got you all that tail. It was the 60s.
Consider: the Pill had kick-started the Sexual Revolution, but feminism was still in its infancy, and herpes was still virtually unknown. Not to mention AIDS.
EVERYBODY of our generation got a lot of tail in the 60s. Free Love was even a bigger “selling point” for the hippies than pot.
Was that my old panel van Black Betty’s sister?
My college training was as a clinical psychologist and I say he’s full of crap.
Then I became an Apple Certified Technician and I myself am much happier.
Things are much easier to fix than people.
He’s a case in point.
Trust the Psychs to come up with utter BS. Next the DSM will come out with another thought up disease. SHITS – Siri Human Interface Tension Syndrome or some other crap and then we all need to be drugged more with some crap that they cook up in their labs.
LOL SHITS????
Trust a Fox News employee to come up with utter BS. Remember that this was the same dude who said that kids would become gay simply because Chaz Bono appeared on Dancing With The Stars.
Writing BS? Must have jumped that sinking ship the BSS MSNBC! That is the kingdom of utter BS. Guess old habits are hard to break for the new hires from there and CNN…
You mean that didn’t happen? It’s safe to watch again?
… pseudo-science if it comes from Fox “News”. What … you thought it was REAL? *snicker* !Chuckle! BWA-Ha-ha!
😉
Lol at SHITS
SHITS. Best laugh I’ve had in a while.
Or…
If you are having a bad day with you new Love, you have have:
SHITS – Siri Interface Tourrette’s Syndrome
😉
Now you know there is a scientific term for all of those “learning curve” experiences you have been having!
uhh… wouldn’t that be SITS…
Sorry, Mate – I forgot the Human aspect of Tourette’s – you are right – It should read:
Siri Human Interface Tourette’s Syndrome… my bad. Cheers! 😉
I am a Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist. I can tell you that I believe Dr. Ab blow has completely lost his mind or is a publicity whore.
Who does he write for? That explains everything. 🙄
what a crock.
Clearly he doesn’t understand the beauty that my beloved Siri has brought into my life. She makes me happy when I feel down and tells me when it’s ok not kill someone today 😉
I have a good friend flying in tomorrow (Mexico) and I am super excited on seeing his iPhone 4S, and finally getting to meet Siri! Hope we hit it off!
She’s infectious.
You will buy an iPhone 4S soon.
I am on a waiting list, they are only giving them to new contracts right now, mine will be an early upgrade as my 4 is only 12 months into 24 month contract
No, I got one only 7 months after getting the Iphone3gs I had to keep checking the upgrade status and it said Oct. 22, but I had to wait 20 days for it to get here, check your update status.
Dr. A-blow – I think that kinda says it all right there.
Doing a blow job causes more harm to one’s psychological state than talking to Siri.
Let’s be honest. You know Microsoft or Google paid this clown to shoot down Siri! They’re running scared and will do anything to plant stories.
On the contrary….
My biggest problem with Siri is I actually have to speak in coherent complete sentences or else I don’t get what I want. When I speak to a human, there is a certain amount of understanding that allows me to speak tersely.
Siri is making me both a better speaker and teaching me how to communicate!!
Just for this man!
I Am A Psychiatrist – Lee “Scratch” Perry
LMAO!
@ iQuack
This needs to be psycho psychiatrist’s and Tim Cruise’s theme song!!! At least the “patient’s” would have a laugh!
Thanks to you!
“I bless you with this Kiss” – :X
What a hoot!
🙂
lol.
So this piece is on foxnews.com/health ?
Leave it to a dirt bag liberal to whine about Fox News. Where do you get your news from PMSNBC?? Screw you and all liberals-wannabe-communists.
Whoa, maybe this guy is onto something. Do you use Siri, Edy?
1
Anger issues much?
BTW, a recent study found that people who watch Fox News are less informed about the world than people who watch NO news at all. All those Fox lies really don’t help you deal with reality, you poor sucker.
You seriously need to get on your meds. Oh, it’s too late.
Siri says, “Edy, here are some anger management centers near you. Would you like directions?”
Good one.
I feel very comfortable in saying dipshit to you.
You’re goading them, of course.
But it was just a simple observation with no commentary attached, positive or negative. If that’s all it takes to goad…
Sorry. I guess I’m with you, at that…especially as I don’t wish to play the kettle…or is it the pot…
Don’t be sorry. Other times, I have goaded… 😆
Thanks. You’re a good person. And very funny!
Wow, is he human? Doesn’t he know that we personify lots of animate and inanimate objects? Our horses, dogs, cars, teddy bears, iPhones, etc.
Yeah, whatever did happen to Bonzi Buddy?
I think the MDN take nailed it.
As a psychiatrist in training, this kind of crap pisses me off. Not all shrinks are blowhards who can’t differentiate BS from intelligent analysis. If anything, mobile products, particularly with siri, have the opportunity to substantially improve pt care.
@ Oliver
hilarious! hopefully we can squeeze that one in before the next revision
Whoa! A psychiatrist who writes for FOX Noise? He must be a real expert! NOT! What an unbelievably stupid theory.
Wait, didn’t we already see this sort of thing? The brain scans of iPhone users? Looking for the centers of addiction? Found love instead?
How dare he talk about my girl like that! =)
The world is full of kooks. Why give this hack a venue to distribute his gibberish?
He’s right… I’d rather interact with Siri than with a psychiatrist. 😉
Microsofts answer to Siri, hire 500,000 people in India to answer questions ‘like real people’, and then they would look up the answers on Google. A little slower, but …
Answer Center this is skip Ooh holy cow my sandels are too larsh. What may I help you for?
LOL
To steal a sig line from someone wittier than I am:
“Don’t personify computers. They hate that.”
Well, finally someone says what we’ve all not been thinking.
From his perspective as a habitual imbiber at the local Hof Brau (beer garden), he definitely is concerned about Half Life.
I tried to think of a better description… But batshit insane quackery is perfect.
Oh my god I’m so glad you guys are so much more qualified than a psychiatrist to comment on this and call him crazy for saying personifying a machine is bad. We’re all so fucking smart and attached, aren’t we?
Perhaps some of us simply prefer the Star Trek scenario of rational yet personable AIs as valued assistants to bold human explorers to the vapid and disposable utterings of overeducated self-appointed experts. So sue us.
“Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
I’ve always enjoyed HAL…
!
Was HAL self-personifying? That could explain a few things. Wait, it was only a movie. Or…?
Why, Dave, yes, we actually are. He appeared on Fox and we did not. That kinda says it all.
If you knew how the “mental disorders” in the DSM are discovered (the psychs vote on them at their annual meeting, then pass them off as actual diseases), you wouldn’t be so quick to criticize.
Psychs “diagnose” a patient with claims of chemical imbalances, etc., when all they do is talk to someone for 10 minutes. Ask them what tests they run to determine a chemical imbalance, or which chemicals are out of balance, and they’ll tell you that there is no test. It’s all a scam to sell powerful and expensive drugs to a patient for years. And many psychs gt kickbacks from drug companies.
It’s all a scam . . .
Not all of it. They can also save lives, of whom I know a few.
But psychology and psychiatry remain remarkably primitive professions. A lot of the chemical interactions involved are guesswork. Patient reactions to the drugs can be remarkably different, even within families. A vast number of the drugs are derived from benzene, which can lead to a variety of toxicity effects. And yes, there are plenty of nefarious drug companies who have screwed over the entire country by way of their oppressive lobbying and buying of lawmakers. They ruined Medicare Part D as well as the Affordable Healthcare Plan by way of anti-competitive behavior and the actual corrupt writing of these laws.
IOW: Patient beware. Accept no quacks. Champion great doctors when you find them!
We’re more qualified than this psychiatrist, that’s for sure.
The beauty of Siri is that you don’t interact with it like it’s a machine, you interact with it like it’s a person, so the whole premise of of Dr. Quacky McQuack’s article is fallacious right from the get go.
Before he gifts us unwashed masses with wisdom from his ivory tower, maybe this guy should address his own psychiatric problems. Like the urge to crap in his diaper to get attention, which he clearly channels through writing.
Although between him and you, I think you probably need the most immediate help.
Someone needs a little help.