Agents of alienation

I find myself holding a passionate opinion that almost nobody in the " Wired-stple " community agrees with and I'm wondering; What's gotten into all of you? I find that in the wide, though shrinking world away from computers most people find my position obvious, while infophiles find it impenetrable. I am trying to bridge a chasm of misunderstanding. Here is the opinion: that the idea of " intelligent agents " is both wrong and evil, I also an issue of real consequence to the near term future of culture and society. As the infobahn rears its gargantuan head, the agent question looms as a deciding factor in whether this new beast will be much better than W, or much worse. The idea of agents comes up in response to an obvious predicament of the new media revolution we find ourselves hurtling through. How do you make sense of a world of information available to you on demand? How do you find the grains of gold in the heaps of dirt that will be shipped to you on the infobahn every-day? The " off&l " answer is that autonomous " Artificial Intelligence " programs called agents will get to know you by hanging out with you, and they'll figure it all out, presenting you with a custom morning newspaper, or whatever. This is the idea of Microsoft's " Bob " program, and the pitch presented in the AT&T " You will " commercials, in Nicholas Negropontc's columns in VJired magazine (in which he has called intelligent agents the " unequivocal " l A version of " Agents of Alienation " also appeared in Jour