Columbo questions and the Semantic Answering Machine.

Um - I was wondering sir, if you could take time out of your busy schedule and help me out. You know, no big deal, just some loose ends and things. Hey, you have a nice place here! The wife sees houses like this on TV all the time and says boy she wishes she had digs like this you know? Is that painting real? Really? Wow. I saw something like that in a museum once!

Oh, sorry sir. I didn’t mean to get off the track.

Well, listen, anyways, I can’t seem to get some information I need to wrap this up. These things seem to either be “missing” or “difficult to find”. I’m sure it’s just some oversight or glitch or something, so if you could you tell me where these things are - I ... I ... have them written down here somewhere ... oh wait. Sorry about the smears. It was raining out. I’ll just read it to you. Could you help me please find these things, sir?

Lieutenant Columbo’s 3 questions and the Semantic Answering Machine.

1. To learn ask - “What do you mean by that?”
2. To uncover a flaw - begin the question with - “Can you clear this up for me?”
3. Close with - "Let me think about that..." and then research the truth before going in for the kill.
   

Careful what you wish for - the art and science of better questions.

Lot's to think and say on this. It's all become a question of semantics and pull. The power of an idea whose time has come. Read this: It’s beautifully put. http://bit.ly/d7b601

• ‘Semantic’ – unambiguous – something utterly correct.
• ‘Pull’ - by asking smart questions you get to the right result straight away. The opposite of push in the world of digital fire-hosing of unsuspecting humans in the increasing world of data.
  

I love the notion of this shift from push to pull.

The idea that I get to decide exactly what I receive and how and where I want it. Priceless. Not the arcane onslaught of arbitrary rubbish from poorly thought services and solutions from profit hungry and unthinking businesses. They deserved to fail at that and they now will.

Just imagine the shift from all or nothing, take it or leave it. Our way or the highway. Dismissing the idea that if you bang on with mediocrity long enough it will kill any quality or resistance from the public. Because with few exceptions that’s worked. Anybody caught doing that in the future will get rightly toasted.

The idea that the main systems of business, politics and media having to completely alter the way they operate in this new world order - brilliant. While some predictions are that this will take 20 years others will rightly argue it’s already happening.

Bring it on.

Bring on the shift to this intelligent access to the right answers and experiences for me. The right information not the deluge of quick drying data cement. Bring on the change to so many government agencies where this is prehistoric defense of mountains of unncessary data and requrement definitions of the wrong stuff for the wrong reasons. Bring on a more intelligent approach to enabling more meaningful and rewarding ways to find better quality experiences and answers - which in turn will make for better questions.

Bring it on yes but get prepared.

Asking better questions of a responsive system of things requires better questions. So how do I know what I actually want anyway? There are countless examples of not knowing that I liked or needed something until I stumbled on it. How would I know? That was often the thrill. In the near future the designers and architects who curate these new experiences for us will be the new alchemists of our individual destiny. Turning our poor question of the system into smart and intelligently phrased quasi-wisdom.

My hope then is it will shock billions of people into realising the decades of soporific acceptance of the dullness we've inflicted on each other in the name of industrialization, systemization, socialization and progress. They may rise up and demand better. That will hopefully be the new question.

This could indeed be the global answering machine we've all been praying for.

I’m sure it’s just some oversight or glitch or something, so if you could you tell me where these things are - Could you help me please find these things, sir?

Posted via email from Just Thinking!