” Why We May Soon Be Living in Alexa’s World” written by Farhad Manjoo and published in The New York Times, February 21, 2018, discusses the voice assisted computing service (artificial intelligence) referred to as Alexa, and the multitude of tech gadgets that currently employ Alexa. Initially, this article uses pathos to gain the reader’s attention when the writer humorously recalls a recent glitch in his Amazon Echo Dot. Quoting Manjoo, “…the voice assistant began to wail, like a child screaming in a horror-movie dream”. Moving to his main thesis, Manjoo theorizes Alexa has so thoroughly invaded the lives of consumers, himself included, that they are willing to overlook the glitches in favor of the convenience offered by the artificial …show more content…
Manjoo does a respectable job explaining the technical aspects of Alexa, one example, he explains that Alexa runs in the cloud making the user experience seamless across different devices, applying logos he makes technical terms understandable for the average person. Continuing, he again injects a humorous, (pathos), explanation of how Alexa has wormed her way into countless lives as Amazon offers free use of the technology to any developer. Consequently, utilizing logos, he reemphasizes how this technology is incorporated into many things, successfully making the reader contemplate how many devices they might own which utilize a form of …show more content…
Manjoo has written a good, enjoyable technical piece, explaining the features of Alexa, and where this product is in use, Alexa is in places the reader would not even consider, example, light bulbs, and thermostats. His article, while being well written and humorous, referencing Alexa’s quirks, leaves the reader to wonder, no closure, what caused the original glitch, (making the unit scream like a child). At the beginning of the article, Manjoo declares Amazon tech had never heard of this glitch, yet a quick internet search will reveal many instances of the same glitch reported by other owners of the echo dot. An oversight like this calls into question how well he researched the topic before publishing an article which uses a malfunctioning device to gain the reader's initial interest, which in turn has the reader question his ethos. Overall, the article effectively uses pathos, (humorous references to Alexa), ethos, (citing an executive from Amazon), logos, (explaining use of tech in third-party devices), and lastly deductive reasoning, (explain why he enjoys Alexa). Mr. Manjoos overuse, (six times) of the word ubiquity or a version of it is cloying and has the reader contemplate emailing Manjoo to suggest he use his thesaurus more often. Otherwise, in conclusion, his article is well written, easy to read, and contains enough information to make the reader eager to try an Alexa device for themselves, if only to see if they too can get it to scream like a little