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"Roberta" in robot costume, 1966

In 1966, “Roberta,” also known as “the housewife of tomorrow,” appeared at Macy’s in New York to demonstrate Hamilton Beach appliances.[1]

A New York Times article, noting that “she can be turned on and off at will,” also highlighted a divide between men and women viewing the robotic spectacle.

When women see Roberta perform at Macy's, their usual comment is "harumph." Men, on the other hand, often express a desire to take her home.

[1] Klemesrud, Judy. “Housewife of Tomorrow: She Can Be Turned Off,” The New York Times, November 17, 1966.

Robot costumes

An article on Vox, This is AI’s Actual Endgame, (Apple News) referenced the person-in-a-robot-suit demo at Tesla in 2021:

It’s still embarrassing to watch the part of the Tesla AI Day presentation in 2021 when a human person dressed in a robot costume appears on stage dancing to dubstep music.
Dubstep, awesome! People in robot costumes, representing a company about to make robots, not so much.
And I don't think that was dubstep either.
Yep, Shazam tells me it's Destroying Teams by Hotschedules.

 

Her, HAL, glaze, and vanilla

Some notes on personality changes in OpenAI’s ChatGPT:

Regarding the “her” tweet for GPT-4o, or whatever a post in X is:

Some users may be repelled by them. But many will come to love and appreciate the new breed of A.I. assistants — and some will inevitably fall in love, as Theodore does.
May 14, 2024 - The New York Times, A.I.'s 'Her' Era Has Arrived

On the backlash of GPT-5, now more HAL than Her:

For others, though, the loss felt personal. They developed an affinity for the GPT-4o persona, or the o3 persona, and suddenly felt bereft. That the loss came without warning, and with seemingly no recourse, only worsened the sting.
August 11, 2025 - Platformer, Three big lessons from the GPT-5 backlash

On GPT-5.1:

The release follows complaints earlier this year that its previous models were excessively cheerful and sycophantic, along with an opposing controversy among users over how OpenAI modified the default GPT-5 output style after several suicide lawsuits.
...the company is offering eight preset options, including Professional, Friendly, Candid, Quirky, Efficient, Cynical, and Nerdy, alongside a Default setting.
November 12, 2025 - Ars Technica, OpenAI walks a tricky tightrope with GPT-5.1’s eight new personalities

The GPT-5.1 Efficient setting seems to be the most HAL-esque:

...which is just tell me what you want to tell me. And you don't have to pretend you're being nice to me. You don't have to compliment me.
November 18, 2025 - Dan Frommer on The Talk Show with John Gruber podcast, #434: 'Knee-Jerk Contrarian,' with Dan Frommer (1:21:45)

There seems to be a consistent problem with “glaze." It seems, though, that glaze is a purposeful attribute – the problem isn’t that there is glaze, it’s that it glazes “too much.”

Dan Frommer also mentions in the podcast (1:25:43), “I try to use the default settings for almost everything, just so I feel like I’m experiencing technology the way that, like, most people are experiencing it.” And I agree, the default setting, the vanilla, can be really interesting. Vanilla might seem basic, but it’s a very difficult thing to do just right.

Silicon E. Coyote

I came across this post at kottke.org, Silicon Doodles & Microchip Art. It’s quite the meeting of analog and digital!

The Wile E. Coyote image caught my eye, especially in reference to my previous post, Coyote Time and Empathetic Design.

Wile E Coyote silicon doodle photographed by cpu_duke
The Wile E. Coyote artwork on the silicon is incredibly small. The image was captured by "cpu_duke" with a microscope.

References from the kottke.org link above:

I wish that everyone could win

It means a lot, because it's hard and cruel to be a professional cyclist, you suffer a lot in preparations. You sacrifice your life, your family. You do everything you can to get here ready, and then after a couple of days you realize that everyone is just so incredibly strong...I don't often win because I'm not as strong as the others, but I can keep cool and focus in the crucial moments...the whole day, I just wanted to give my best...every single rider at this moment would deserve a win...I wish that everyone could win a Tour de France stage, but it's just not possible, and that's cruel, no?

With the 2025 Tour de France in the rearview mirror, an emotional interview with Matej Mohorič after winning Stage 19 of the 2023 Tour de France. We looked for him in the paddock at Stage 17 in 2024 (Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux à Superdévoluy) but it was so blistering hot and humid that the riders stayed in the busses until it was time to race. The level of performance in professional cycling is off the charts, but the empathy and honesty of Matej are hard to come by – definitely one for Gino Mäder!

I am Account Number

I am Account No. 327-94-33AT, and I would like a word with your computer.

Frustration with computers may be familiar to us now, but in the late 1960s and early 1970s it reached a new level.

The general public was aware that computers, or “mainframes,” were impacting their lives, but they had little recourse and no access to their own information within computerized systems. Which isn’t far removed from the present, actually, considering search engines, social media, and AI.

It’s interesting that the man wielding the sledgehammer doesn’t give his name – he’s simply a number in the eyes of the computer.

The cartoon is from the book (with accompanying CDs of image files), The Complete Cartoons of The New Yorker, by Robert Mankoff and David Remnick, 2004.a cartoon of someone upset about computers holding a sledgehammer