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Comment by crooked-v | Hacker News Reader

The default wake word for these kinds of devices should just be 'computer'. It works fine for Star Trek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CDhEwhOm44

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Alexa lets you do that, and it's fun until you accidentally trigger it during a meeting or phone call.

Google is worse here, you can't change the google wake word at all and I _hate_ having to say "hey google" whenever I wanna use it.

I mean, it's honest. Using a human voice suggests that you're talking to an individual, only to that one device next to you. Saying "Ok Google" makes it abundantly clear that you're feeding (and being fed by) a planetary-scale hive mind.

I switched to Alexa just because I hated saying hey google.

I do use the computer wake work and it’s indeed annoying but the fun makes it worth it for me lol

OTOH Star Trek has also doors that can read your mind. Notice how they never open until some character actually intends to go out. Now try that at your local mall! I fear that you'll be disappointed... But then considering when Star Trek is set, mind reading technology is perhaps not out of the question. After all AI face recognition is already fine tuned enough to see the difference between happy and sad people.

By the time of Voyager the ship is apparently able to constantly record the brainwave patterns of all crew members at all times as a background task. I surmise that this must be an evolution of the technology installed in doors to read people's intent to go through them which first came about some time before the Original Series.

how else would the computer know how to route shipboard communications before the interlocutor's name has been spoken.

I reckon machine learning could predict whether someone wants the door to open based on their motion, which way they are looking, what they are doing with their hands, etc.

Yes, most of the time people use Mac or PC or iPad rather than “Computer” - it would also be good for all devices to share the same disambiguation system that selects which device you want to answer - e.g. if your iphone is held up to your face and you say “computer tell me what LCARS is?” your Amazon Echo device doesn’t answer.

Association with Star Trek is only a selling point on HN.

It makes watching Star Trek more amusing.

been thinking that for years now.

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