Wednesday, January 31, 2007
I'm on the streetcar two nights ago and I don't have anything to read, nobody wants a staring competition and im bored of looking at snow, so I look instead at the adverts above me. It's all the usual crap but there's a new one i've not seen before advertising a service clumsily called 'Askipedia', whereby you text them a question, any question and they will send you an answer. Just 2 dollars. About a pound. One and a bit euros. A billion yen. It's doubtless designed for pub arguments like 'who scored the most goals in a particular hockey game' or indeed 'where's the nearest pub?'. But i'm thinking:
Any question?
Ok.
"Where was God during the Holocaust?"
No sooner have I sent off the text and felt the 12 billion dead jewish eyes' ashen stares (not sure if I intended that pun) than I receive a prompt reply. Wow. They're good. Of course it's just a preliminary reply explaining that the answer will be along shortly and a restatement of the terms and conditions that apply. Im already realising that i've just chucked away some money for nothing, all for being a bit 'clever'. They're not going to want to or be capable of answering such a question, since it's a matter of opinion not fact. Besides, it's almost certainly going straight to a trained monkey with Google, on minimum wage but probably no healthcare. See how they get you?
15 minutes later.
*beep beep*
I flip open the phone with no great anticipation of an actual answer. But I get this...
If God interefered with things like the Holocaust, He would be effectively stripping us of our free will, that or He just doesn't exist.
Well, it is an answer and it's only worth 2 dollars, so I'm not complaining. In fact, Im chuffed that someone's taken the time to reply with something more than I expected. I want to reply that there's nothing inherently wrong in depriving us of our free will, which may after all be an illusion and that plenty of offshoots from the main three monotheistic religions have strongly determinist views of human destiny, which might imply human nature too. But to text back would call into question my sanity and financial responsibility (both of which have rarely been off the debating sheet), so I don't.
It does however give me a line of enquiry I find 'worth' pursuing. So for your pleasure and my reckless curiosity, I am now texting them one of the questions I posed below....
"Who would win in a fight between a duck-headed dog and a dog-headed duck?
...and why?" (I want my money's worth)
THIRTY SECONDS LATER
The dog-headed duck would be sure to win, although the duck-headed dog has size and claws the jaws of the dog's head would be victorious
It's probably just me but I find this a hilariously satisfying answer.
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Any question?
Ok.
"Where was God during the Holocaust?"
No sooner have I sent off the text and felt the 12 billion dead jewish eyes' ashen stares (not sure if I intended that pun) than I receive a prompt reply. Wow. They're good. Of course it's just a preliminary reply explaining that the answer will be along shortly and a restatement of the terms and conditions that apply. Im already realising that i've just chucked away some money for nothing, all for being a bit 'clever'. They're not going to want to or be capable of answering such a question, since it's a matter of opinion not fact. Besides, it's almost certainly going straight to a trained monkey with Google, on minimum wage but probably no healthcare. See how they get you?
15 minutes later.
*beep beep*
I flip open the phone with no great anticipation of an actual answer. But I get this...
If God interefered with things like the Holocaust, He would be effectively stripping us of our free will, that or He just doesn't exist.
Well, it is an answer and it's only worth 2 dollars, so I'm not complaining. In fact, Im chuffed that someone's taken the time to reply with something more than I expected. I want to reply that there's nothing inherently wrong in depriving us of our free will, which may after all be an illusion and that plenty of offshoots from the main three monotheistic religions have strongly determinist views of human destiny, which might imply human nature too. But to text back would call into question my sanity and financial responsibility (both of which have rarely been off the debating sheet), so I don't.
It does however give me a line of enquiry I find 'worth' pursuing. So for your pleasure and my reckless curiosity, I am now texting them one of the questions I posed below....
"Who would win in a fight between a duck-headed dog and a dog-headed duck?
...and why?" (I want my money's worth)
THIRTY SECONDS LATER
The dog-headed duck would be sure to win, although the duck-headed dog has size and claws the jaws of the dog's head would be victorious
It's probably just me but I find this a hilariously satisfying answer.
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