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Monday, August 14, 2017

A Test

I just got a phone call from a computer.  The call wasn't identified as being automated.  Instead, when I answered it said "Susie?"  (Actually, it used the name of my eldest daughter, but I thought I should leave her out of this.)

I responded by saying "No."

The voice laughed after a pause and said, "that's ok, I can talk to either of you."

At that point, I got a pitch to give to a charity that was unknown to me.  I decided to do a test.  I waited until the machine stopped so that I could respond to the next question.  At that point, is said to the machine in Russian something that translates roughly into "if you are afraid of wolves, don't go into the forest."  It's an old Russian proverb, but it confused the machine.  I got a reply saying, "I'm sorry, I didn't understand that.  Could you say that again?"

I repeated the Russian saying and the machine then told me, "That's great.  Can I send you a pledge envelope?"

I just hung up.

Now I know that you are probably wondering one of two things:  1) why did I waste the time to speak to the computer? or 2) If I speak Russian, does that mean that I colluded with regard to the 2016 election?

The answer to the second question is easy:  NO.
The answer to the first is more difficult.  Basically, I just wanted to see how the computer system would handle a completely non-responsive and unintelligible response.

 

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