“Crosswalk buttons in New York are a lie. So is the “door close” button in most elevators. That ticking clock telling you your download is 68% finished? Also a lie.”

These are the ways robots deceive us, par Daniela Hernandez de Fusion

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These devices don’t do anything but help us deal with our impatience. Designers realized that we fare better psychologically when we think we have control or know how long we need to wait, so these features were designed to lull us into a false calm.

If the idea of deception being programmed into those technologies disturbs you, hold onto your Wifi-connected seat because it’s going to get worse. Machines are going to be designed to be more human-like, and part of being human is the ability to lie and deceive.