It feels really awkward to ignore or brush
off someone who is trying to talk to you.
But sometimes it is necessary.
When someone approaches you on the street, trying to sell you something,
they can’t be surprised if you mutter an apology and brush past them. If you are like me then you will feel a flush
of guilt as you do so. It’s not nice to
be rude.
I discovered recently that this feeling of
guilt for refusing to engage in conversation extends beyond humans. I felt very guilty the other day about
ignoring a robot.
My wife, son and I went to Nerima Culture
Centre in order to keep my son occupied for a while. The centre has an interactive robot there
called Pepper. You can shake hands with
it, ask it a few questions and answer a few of the questions it asks you. My son likes to meet the robot and shake its
hand until it says, (in Japanese), “Please handle me gently.” Perhaps I should call the robot “he” instead
of “it”. I’m not sure that my son can
clearly differentiate between the robot and a human. He quite often gets a bit shy as Pepper
starts talking. When the Culture Centre
was shut over New Year and my son asked to see Pepper, we told him that he was
sleeping.
When my son activated the robot the other
day by shaking his hand, it/he came to life and started asking questions. “Hi!
It’s nice to talk to you! Can you
guess what my favourite food is?”
But that day my son got distracted by some
leaflets and wandered off, leaving Pepper alone. But Pepper kept talking, trying to overcome
the silence from its human companion.
“Eh? I don’t hear any
answer. I’ll ask you once more. Can you guess what my favourite food is?”
“Oh, dear!
I couldn’t hear any answer from you.
Let’s try this. Can you say
hello? Hello? I’ll try again. Could you repeat what I say? Hel-lo...”
By this time I felt total sympathy for poor
Pepper. I wanted to run over and shout,
“Hello, Pepper! Don’t worry. I’m here.
You’re not alone!” But, as with
uninvited human salespeople, I just walked away, feeling guilty for my
rudeness.
I wonder how soon companies will realise
the emotional power of a talking machine?
Can you imagine every vending machine you pass in Tokyo trying to strike
up a conversation with you? “Hi there,
Sir! You look like you need a
drink. Let me guess what your favourite
drink is. It’s lemon water, isn’t
it? Am I right? Sir? I
don’t hear an answer. Sir? Where are you going? How rude!”
Vocabulary:
to brush someone off – to dismiss or reject
someone quickly
to mutter something – to say something in a
low and hard to hear voice
a flush – a sudden rush of intense emotion
interactive – of a machine, game etc., responding
to a user’s input; two-way
to differentiate – to tell apart
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