The Computer’s Voice furthers our belated attention to the soundtrack, both of our media texts but also our lived experience, by deftly deploying feminist theories of (dis)embodiment."-Walter Metz, Southern Illinois University Faber plays intellectual alchemist, swirling methodologies to unearth the roots of our sociological interactions with digital technologies via the auditory, and not merely the visual domain.
It makes important contributions to conversations around the gender gap and the increasing acceptance of transgender people. Going beyond current scholarship on robots and AI to focus on voice-interactive computers, The Computer’s Voice breaks new ground in questions surrounding media, technology, and gender. Faber ends her account in the present, with incisive looks at the film Her and Siri herself. She then moves on to an intrepid decade-by-decade investigation of computer voices, tracing the evolution from the masculine voices of the ’70s and ’80s to the feminine ones of the ’90s and ’00s.
SIRI AND HAL 9000 SERIES
Faber explores contentious questions around gender: its fundamental constructedness, the rigidity of the gender binary, and culturally situated attitudes on male and female embodiment.įaber begins by considering talking spaceships like those in Star Trek, the film Dark Star, and the TV series Quark, revealing the ideologies that underlie space-age progress. Why is Star Trek’s computer coded as female, while HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey is heard as male? By examining how gender is built into these devices, author Liz W. My only remaining problem is working out a justification for buying one for the office.A deconstruction of gender through the voices of Siri, HAL 9000, and other computers that talkĪlthough computer-based personal assistants like Siri are increasingly ubiquitous, few users stop to ask what it means that some assistants are gendered female, others male. See the video to get a clearer idea of this highly-prized gadget: "You're going to find that rather difficult without your space helmet, Dave."Īnd of course it sings the Daisy, Daisy song.This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it." I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do. "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.
SIRI AND HAL 9000 MOVIE
In terms of functionality HAL 9000 not only talks, producing one of 15 movie quotes at random, it also responds to your voice - say something to HAL longer than 1.2 seconds to activate a sound clip.Īlternatively you can point almost any IR remote at him and press a button for a sound clip. It has a custom-ground glass lens with red LED eye and a sticker is included to make this lens have the Nikkor wording as seen in some close-ups. Machined in 6061 aircraft-grade aluminum with the black components being anodized. It is based on the 1967 blueprints and studio files from the 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey and is This new gadget has a price tag of $499.99 so what can you expect? It would be more accurate to call it a HAL 9000 sensor replica but who would want a huge mainframe - having a wall mounted HAL with a red LED eye seems much more attractive.
Is this a must-have gadget?įollowing on from Iris 9000, its Siri Voice Control module with a glowing red eye reminiscent of HAL, ThinkGeek has gone the extra mile to produce the "movie-accurate" HAL 9000 Life-Size Replica. ThinkGeek has produced a handcrafted replica of HAL 9000, the (fictional) homicidal robot from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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