Do you know the difference between smart phones and smart people? They both have excellent processors. The smart phone processors can process many many 'What now?' scenarios to cope up with human impatience and attention span deficit, which is tactfully branded as multi-tasking. Smart people have minds that process many many 'What if?' scenarios simultaneously. The reason I pondered over this difference is a curious 'What if' case my mind processed. What if smart phones evolved into super phones?
I wonder what super power my phone can acquire! Of course two things come to my mind immediately.
1. Batteries that never run dry or charge automatically and autonomously - I hear that technology is already imagining these possibilities and if they can imagine something, soon they shall make it happen. So I reject this for being within human reach and hence 'not super'. I have to think of something more super than the Pomegranate phone.
2. To wake me up promptly at the time I set my alarm to. Every time. - I have to reject this because this is even beyond super powers.
This leaves me with the next option, which I can safely claim to be 'super'. I want my phone to be a legilimens. For the sake of simple people who have not read the Harry Potter, I want my phone to be a mind reader. What if my phone can tell me what the other person is truly thinking when he/she is talking to me on the phone. Something like a lie detector packed into a phone in addition to the zillion gadgets like night vision cameras, intelligent personal assistants etc. Rather, I would like my phone to immediately detect three L's in conversations on top priority. Lies. Loans & Love.
Everybody lies on phone. 'On the way', 'In a meeting. Call you later', 'Was driving when you called' - they come in all shapes and colours. The world can just be a more truthful place if phones can detect lies. For the liars, which is most of us at one time or the other, it also brings the risk of making the world a more awkward place where one can't even lie in peace. Well, we can get used to it I suppose.
Over years of experience and hours of call-time, I have trained my mind to detect a loan call within a few seconds of spotting it. It can be from the persistent bank telecaller whose very life depends on selling the loan to me. Or it can be the fourth degree friend who suddenly calls to catch up and talks of the good old day (not plural. Mostly I would have met him just one day in my whole life) before casually asking if I can lend him a few thousands. In both cases, I prefer to be alerted as early as possible so that I can think of an unbeatable excuse by the time the question is popped. Well, if the other person also uses the same phone, I need not even bother hard for the lie. (Refer earlier paragraph). In the same lines, Amway-esque calls can also be spotted the minute when someone enquires 'Are you interested in a life-changing business proposition?'
Love blooms on phone these days. In equal numbers, it withers on phone too. In some cases, it even completes the full life cycle without even one physical meeting. So, every time a conversation happens with a person of the opposite sex for the third time (especially the long conversations at the odd hours), the stupid mind thinks of a possibility of love in some probability. It saves a lot of beating around the bush if there is an intent of love detected by the super phone. Just like this.
On the contrary, it can also save a lot of embarrassment if there is no intent of love and the super phone can detect a 'just a friendly conversation'. Having said this, phones can get really confused handling this event. Because most people themselves do not know to define the lines of difference in this curious case of love. The poor machine can only go as far as the human mind goes.
The problem gets even more complicated with texting, where only half of what is thought is communicated and only half of what is communicated is understood and only half of what is understood is communicated as understood to the opposite party. It really offers ample scope for super powers to chip in. What if two simultaneous text windows pop up on the phone - one showing the conversation and one showing the intent? A tough challenge, but there is hope if the phone can interpret at least half of the 1478 meanings of 'Hmmm...' (there is an elaborate set of 24,356 meanings when all combinations of 'Hmm' with the varying number of m's and the dots that follow the H are considered)
With this super power, the phone can gradually make life just super! The possibility gets more and more interesting as I think of prank calls, client calls, status calls, family calls and wrong calls. With such a phone, I can definitely see what others can't see and do what others can't do. And then, sooner perhaps, the phone can even wake me up at the time I set my alarm to.
Cheers,
GS
Asus is launching a new smart phone which claims to be a tad above the rest in the smart phone evolution and a tad below the super phone class. It is named Zenfone and it is in search of the incredible. This post is written as a contest entry associated with the product launch. Thanks to Asus and Indiblogger for throwing me an interesting 'What if' scenario to write about.
Courtesy : Image : YamiPaperDreams
Youtube clip : Woody Allen : Balcony scene from 'Annie Hall'
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