Searching for Ron Britvich (part 2) (continued)
Roderick C. Moyes
Ron Britvich: "Yeah, we talked a couple years ago while we were on vacation about what we were going to do next and we basically came up with two different ideas. They were both really good. AskEarth was the one that looked like it would fit in best at the time."
RM: "So, the idea has been around for a while now?"
RB: "Actually, the ideas have been around for years… like eight years or so."
RM: "Was there anything about now that made it seem like the right time to do something like this?"
RB: "For most good ideas, what happens is a lot of things sort of fall into place suddenly to enable the idea for the first time. If we had wanted to do this eight years ago it would have been fine except that there really wasn't an Internet to use that most people would sit down to anyway, so it would have been too far ahead of it's time. In fact, I was working for a local company developing artificial help systems… the conclusion that I came to, was that this AI stuff doesn't work very good and it's probably still going to be quite a while before it does. So, the best way to sort of help each other is to not have a machine try to figure out what we're looking for but to connect us to the right people who can help. I think someday we are eventually going to build a machine that's smarter than us, but that's still a long way off."
RM: "So do you see a point somewhere in the future where technology will be smarter than we are and AskEarth will no longer be necessary, or do you think people will always want that human interaction?"
RB: "Well, I think both. I think people will always want the human interaction, but I also think that machines will be able to help you."
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