18 November

Spent the day sorting through the Excel salt mines. Kept banging my head against a wall with cell formatting: when I'd enter an email address in a cell, it then became a link that would automatically open my mail program. Now, don't get me wrong, I appreciate an over-eager piece of software that tries to anticipate my needs; however in this instance it became a more-than irksome attempt to appease me, because every time I went *near* the cell my mail program would pop open, waiting with bated breath for me to send an urgent missive to the concerned party.

And I couldn't make it stop.

I cleared formatting. I added spaces. I deleted and re-wrote the sheet. I asked advice on forums and with fellow graphic designers. I mailed home. I sent a letter to Bill Gates direct (I hope it doesn't go in his spam box). All for naught. This program will anticipate my needs before I have them whether I like it or not, and that's just the way it is.

This is why artificial intelligence will undoubtedly take us down the same dark path as that depicted in Blade Runner. Will they dream, indeed.

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