January 17, 2015

Horse 1823 - Autocorrect: Both A Marvel And A Beautiful Disaster.

Having recently acquired a tablet computer has changed the way that these posts are compiled quite markedly. I used to scribble madly into an A5 notebook with a pencil and then after arriving at a desktop computer, try to make sense of the mess. As a result the final outcome would be either the second or third version. However, with a tablet computer, that process has been circumvented and now the final product which survives is on average, seventh or eighth attempt (or so the software tells me). Mostly thus is because I have two or three text documents sitting about at any given moment; which might get a line or paragraph added to as I go along. I don't know if this improves the final product or not but I do know that it has led to entire lines and phrases that appear and then disappear into the ether with a press of the delete key.
There's another strange consequence as well. The tablet will suggest words to be entered and auto-correct words as I go along. This in my opinion is some sort of techno-marvel, being indistinguishable from magic.
So then, in that spirit, this will be an autocorrect post. I hereby deny responsibility for the rest of this post (unless it is good).

It's really weight using a line or third draft when typing a blood post. The tablet will suggest words as it has been circumvented and now the fact that it has led to the way that it has changed the way that it has been circumvented and.
This very much reminds me of the letter writing game on BBC Radio 4's program "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" where two famous people in history write to each other.
For nothing example:

Dear Neville,
Thank you for visiting me in my opinion in my house. It was very much appreciated that you said that there would be peace in our time but I do know that it is a lie. There will not be peace in our time but I will suggest words to the opposite. 
I have two famous people in my house and now they are very much dead. I will make more people dead when I send trouble into Poland.
Love, Adolf.

Dear Adolf,
I received your letter and now I am not very happy at all. I do not like to see two famous people dead when I am not very happy. I am very angry. Please do not send trouble into Poland. Instead, please do not send trouble into the way of magic.
Please do come and visit me in my house and we can have two famous people over for tea. We can talk about happy things like the beginning of the day and the way that you said that you would be an autocorrect. We can talk about happy things like public puppies and the end of the race. Sometimes I am going to be strangely fascinating and lovely. 
Oh do come and visit me in my village.
Yours sincerely, Neville.

Admittedly autocorrect has its drawbacks. I think that the algorithm it employs is only quite rudimentary because it assumes that the words that you intended to use are those which you have already used to write the documents. As far as passing the Turing test goes, it fails species.

You can of course switch off autocorrect if you want to. I think that many people who do not know how to spell, desperately need to switch it on. The number of e-mails that I get where the spelling is atrocities is staggering. What were these people doing during their school days? Obviously not learning things like grammar and spelling, that's what. Then after switching on autocorrect they should problem pomegranate. If they can get away with murder.

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