Pylimitics

1996

“Claudia, my car is worn out; I need to buy a new one.”

“I can help you; I’m going to the library this afternoon anyway.”

(the next morning)

“Look at this: I’ve made a spreadsheet of the recommendations from Consumer Reports, Time Magazine, Car and Driver, Motor Trend, Road & Track, and the New York Times. Here are 10 different models that are each highly rated by one of the publications in at least one category. Just go through the information I gathered and figure out which ratings are the most important, and then you can decide.”

“Uh…you know, I’ve had good luck with my Honda, I’ll just get another one of those.”

2016

“Claudia, my car is worn out; I need to buy a new one.”

“I can help you; hang on and I’ll bring up a few websites.”

(a little later)

“Look at this: each browser tab is a car recommendation from a top site. There are 26 tabs; just review them all and figure out which recommendations make the most sense for you, then you can decide.”

“Uh…you know, I’ve had good luck with my Honda, I’ll just get another one.”

2026

“Claude, my car is worn out; I need to buy a new one.”

“I can help you. I’ll deploy agents to gather data and analyze it all for you.”

(moments later)

“Look at this: my agents have encountered the agents deployed by the manufacturers, local dealerships, and online purchasing services. In addition I’ve gathered reviews by 782 influencers. Here is a list formatted as a .csv file for you to open in your spreadsheet; it is 3100 lines long and sortable in order of prices negotiated by my agent, prices offered by manufacturers’ agents, or prices offered by dealerships’ agents. Each is matched with the model ratings averaged across reviewers and influencers.”

“Uh…you know, I’ve had good luck with my Honda, I’ll just get another one.”

Image by Celestin R., CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons