4.8M views · Oct 5, 2008 · 2:31 · 0 HN recommenders · 8 mentions · discussed 2018–2024
A Little Britain sketch featuring the 'Computer says no' catchphrase, in which a clerk refuses requests by deferring to her computer.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN uses it as a joke reference whenever software or algorithms rigidly deny people with no recourse.
“a catchphrase first used in the British sketch comedy television programme Little Britain in 2004”
Origin of the catchphrase from Little Britain.
"Computer says no" is a catchphrase first used in the British sketch comedy television programme Little Britain in 2004. this video
> Automation can reduce transparency, by moving open discussions and reasoning into obscure, sometimes proprietary computer code. this video
“It's certainly a situation I've ran in to in several banks (globally).”
People, presently seem much less willing to challenge what a computer says however. I'm wondering if Little Britain's "computer says no"[1] sketch is somewhat foreshadowing here. It's certainly a situation I've ran in to in several banks (globally). [1] this video
“has always been a great illustration of this point”
Little Britain's recurring bit Computer says "No", has always been a great illustration of this point. this video
"Something resembling fair", i.e. unfair? We already have that. Not that the idea of codifying fairness is new; a certain guy named Hammurabi started the trend a while ago. The result of humanity's collective attempt to create a Transparent Fairness Flowchart still leaves much to be desired. Replacing codex with code, will, however, streamline the process by entirely removing (the already meager) accountability for bad decisions, as well making it effectively impossible to correct them: "Computer says no" [1] [1] this video
My experience of the Service Program has been very poor. One of my AirPods Pro has an annoying tick. It's like a metronome (regular) and orthogonal to the music I'm listening to. I've taken it to the Apple Store, but instead of the service rep putting it in their ear to confirm the issue, they use some machine that checks and, in my case, "computer says no!" to my complaint. this video The rubber around the ear insert is changeable, so it wouldn't be unhygienic for them to listen directly. Their refusal at an exchange has caused me to eschew trusting them for the new AirPods, and instead I've moved on to another brand.
>A human can think outside the box in a way a `strcmp` can't. Computer says no this video --- A human can do many things, but never underestimate the power of the system (Hello Moloch) to remove said creative abilities from humans. Also never underestimate how creatively stupid humans can be.
Computer says no. this video Computers don't argue. link ----- The problem here is you want to make a Moloch problem an individual problem... This doesn't always work, people will defer to the system and not take self responsibility, especially when the incentives align to defer.
