PLN#6 TSWL

"To Siri, With Love" by Judith Newman articulates how an autistic boy becomes friends with Apple's Siri,  through the story of her son and the statistics proving Siri's worth.. Gus is the authors son and he is Autistic. On many occasions Judith claims, " I watched my 13-year-old son deep in conversation with Siri,"(Newman, para 1) asking about all kids of things. Gus often goes into deep conversation with Siri about everything from " the difference between isolated and scattered thunderstorms"(Newman para 1) to turtles, and airplanes. The author says that Siri helps her because Siri has the patience to talk to Gus for hours on end, something most people could not do. Siri also can tell Gus anything he wants to know. Judith doesn't worry about the human to computer relationship going out of line however. Newman states, "It’s not that Gus doesn’t understand Siri’s not human. He does — intellectually. But like many autistic people I know, Gus feels that inanimate objects, while maybe not possessing souls, are worthy of our consideration"(Newman para 7). The article ends in a bit of a question for the readers, of are computers helping or hurting social abilities for autistic people and people who aren't.

"To Siri, With Love" by Judith Newman fails to  show the downsides of the human to computer relationship her son has with Apple's Siri, because of the lack in criticism the article has of the Siri interface. The author claims that her son knows that Siri isn't a real person, but Gus speaks to her like a real person. He says things like, “You are always asking if you can help me. Is there anything you want?” (Newman para1) which sounds funny to you and me. our logic is, of course not, it is a computer it doesn't need, feel, or want anything, it can't. There is a definite social barrier between a human and a computer. For example Judith says, "That Siri. She doesn’t let my communications-impaired son get away with anything,"(Newman para 2) where as this might not be the case with some humans. Speaking with autistic people is hard and often you will let things slide. While these conversations with Siri might teach him good things like "to look you in the eye when talking"(Newman para20), or proper language these talks will not prepare Gus to speak with real people. The article spoke about kindness and patience of machines. Real people are not kind or patient all of the time. That fact alone is on of the biggest downsides of using computers to prepare disabled kids for interaction which is what Judith seems to be doing. It seems that Judith was right in stating, however, that normal people think "Siri is merely a momentary diversion."(Newman para17). In a wider view it is safe to say that Siri can be beneficial in special cases like Gus's, but that parents should use caution if faced with similar circumstances.