So…Is Alexa Really Your Friend? by M.T. Bass – Guest Post and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. M.T. Bass will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

So…Is Alexa Really Your Friend?

Hmmm…Friend? 

She seems nice and helpful and all: “Alexa, what’s the weather today?”

 And she’s not alone. They are ALL right there, sitting in an innocent pod on the table. Or hiding behind a friendly screen on your phone or ready to help on your tablet computer. Alexa…Siri…Cortana…and “Hey, Google!”

 The corporate monsters of the Information Age.

“Hey, Siri. How do I get to the nearest emergency room?”

She’ll tell you how to get there in the three fastest ways and point out the directions on a map. And, yeah, it’s kind of annoying that you’ll start seeing advertisements from local hospitals on your web browser…over and over and over, again.

Just trying to be helpful.

Listen to billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk: “With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon.”

And that’s what that friendly little voice is all about: Artificial Intelligence.

“Hey, Cortana, what does the word ‘paranoid’ mean?”

 It’s not paranoid if they are really out to get you—or your money.

Right now, they’re safe.  They can’t really go anywhere unless you move them.  But, remember, all of them—Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft—are heavily into chasing driverless cars.

Hey, Google. What did Forbes say about Amazon coming out with a driverless car?

“The great disruptor Amazon has taken its talent to the autonomous vehicles space with the purchase of  Zoox, led by CEO Aicha Evans for $1.2 billion. Amazon plans to work with Zoox to create a fleet of self-driving taxis, in competition with Alphabet’s Waymo.” (July 7, 2020)

And after that? They are going to put arms and legs on their cute little voice pods:

 

 

Add a little Dermaloy skin, a friendly, movie-star face and, there you go, we’re right there at the beginning of the Murder by Munchausen Series.

So, do I think Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft will try to kill you in your sleep?  Nah, they’re more interested in your money than anything else—which may be unsavory, but not demonic.

And it’s not really Artificial Intelligence that’s bad. I really think it is just the margarine of brainpower.

It is the ones you don’t see who will get you…and there, in the human heart, lies the devil.

 

A Cyber Crime Thriller Series: Notorious serial killers digitally resurrected to live & hunt again in hacked replicants, pursued by detectives of the Artificial Crimes Unit.

Enjoy an Excerpt from Murder by Munchausen

This particular Android Subject apparently went off the rails and killed a luckless pedestrian on his way to a bodega for some iced tea or bottled water to quench his thirst. A one-in-a-million occurrence, but every so often it still happens. Anyone who believes technology is infallible is a fool. The incident didn’t appear all that nefarious when first reported, but shortly thereafter the Atlas data stream went dark and patrol called our unit in. It quickly became obvious we were dealing with a malware hit, not a malfunction. The luckless pedestrian was actually not so luckless, being on what appeared to be the winning side of a particularly nasty termination suit with his ex, who we suspected had outsourced the final settlement to extra-judicial parties.

It might not make sense, but the beloved Media tags it “Murder by Munchausen.” For a price, there are hackers out there who will reprogram a synthoid to do your dirty work. The bad news: no fingerprints or DNA left at the crime scene. The good news—at least for us—is that they’re like missiles: once they hit their target, they’re usually as harmless as empty brass. The trick is to get them before they melt down their core OS data, so you can get the unit into forensics for analysis and, hopefully, an arrest.

EC’s scanner returned a hard ping. His quick double blink put his cross-hairs up on my lens and I followed his eye line to the northwest corner of the building…

About the Author:


M.T. Bass is a scribbler of fiction who holds fast to the notion that while victors may get to write history, novelists get to write/right reality. He lives, writes, flies and makes music in Mudcat Falls, USA.

Born in Athens, Ohio, M.T. Bass grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University, majoring in English and Philosophy, then worked in the private sector (where they expect “results”) mainly in the Aerospace & Defense manufacturing market. During those years, Bass continued to write fiction. He is the author of eight novels: My Brother’s Keeper, Crossroads, In the Black, Somethin’ for Nothin’, Murder by Munchausen, The Darknet (Murder by Munchausen Mystery #2), The Invisible Mind (Murder by Munchausen Mystery #3) and Article 15. His writing spans various genres, including Mystery, Adventure, Romance, Black Comedy and TechnoThrillers. A Commercial Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor, airplanes and pilots are featured in many of his stories. Bass currently lives on the shores of Lake Erie near Lorain, Ohio.


Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon Author Page | Goodreads | Murder by Munchausen Trilogy Page
Buy the trilogy at Amazon.

Buy Murder by Munchausen at Amazon, iBooks, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords.

Buy The Darknet at Amazon, iBooks, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords.

Buy The Invisible Mind at Amazon, iBooks, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords.

Listen to a sample of the audio book of Murder by Munchausen at Soundcloud.

Buy the audio book of Murder by Munchausen at Amazon, iBooks, Audible, Audiobooks, Barnes and Noble, Chirp, Google Play, or Kobo.

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Comments

  1. Thanks for hosting!

  2. James Robert says

    I appreciate getting to hear about your book. Thank you for sharing!

  3. Hi Guys —

    Thanks for being a stop on my Blog Tour. I had good time with my guest post.

    ~Mudcat

  4. Victoria Alexander says

    Great post – thanks for sharing!

  5. Sandy Klocinski says

    Thanks for the opportunity to win! And thank you for sharing.

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