Your computer knows you better than your friends do - PAU 2015

>Exámenes selectividad inglés País Vasco resueltos

A computer can get to know somebody's character better than a person’s parents or close friends, research has shown. All it needs is the right input data – specifically someone’s Facebook "likes". By analysing "likes", the software is able to predict personality better than friends and family. Only husbands and wives matched the computer’s ability to estimate psychological characteristics. This finding is an important step towards emotionally-intelligent machines. In the future, computers may be able to understand our personalities and react appropriately, leading to more natural interactions between humans and computers or robots.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge showed that their software was able to predict somebody’s personality more accurately than a work colleague by analysing just 10 Facebook "likes". Inputting 70 "likes" allowed it to give a truer picture of someone’s character than a friend or flatmate could offer, while 150 "likes" out-performed a parent, brother or sister. It took 300 "likes" before the programme was able to judge character better than a husband or wife. Given that an average Facebook user has about 227 "likes", the researchers say this kind of artificial intelligence has the potential to know us better than our closest companions.

According to one of the scientists involved, Dr. Youyou, "Employers could match candidates with jobs better based on their personality. People may decide to improve their own intuitions with this kind of data analysis when making life decisions such as choosing their studies, jobs, hobbies or even romantic partners. Such computer-aided decisions may well improve people’s lives."

But the researchers share the concerns of those who fear a future in which our characteristics and habits become an "open book" for computers to read. However, they hope that governments and technology developers will confront those problems by supporting privacy-protecting laws and technologies, and giving the users full control over their digital footprints.

RESPUESTAS

 

READING COMPREHENSION

I.-Answer questions 1-4 according to the information given in the text.

WRITE COMPLETE SENTENCES USING YOUR OWN WORDS WHENEVER POSSIBLE. DO NOT COPY FROM THE TEXT (4 marks)

1. What do computers do in order to predict personality? 

• They analyse "likes" that people have on their Facebook pages. (p.1)

2. How could this finding change our interactions with computers?

• This finding could make computers understand us better so that we can work with them more naturally. (p. 1) 

3. How can the information provided by computers improve people's lives? 

• The information provided by computers can help us decide who to choose as a boyfriend or girlfriend, where to work or what to study at university. (p. 3)

4. Why are researchers concerned about this software? 

• They are concerned because this software may risk our privacy by allowing computers to know a lot about us. (p.4)

II.-Are these statements True or False ?

Justify your answers based on information from the text, rewriting the original sentences in your own words or quoting properly. (2 marks)

1. This software only needs to know about 70  "likes "to be able to predict somebody's personality better than his or her friends. 

• This sentence is true. According to the text, "Inputting 70 "likes" allowed it to give a truer picture of someone’s character than a friend or flatmate could offer." (p. 2)

2. Researchers hope that governments will not take any action to protect our privacy.

• This sentence is false. The text states that the researchershope that governments   "will confront those problems by supporting privacy-protecting laws and technologies, and giving the users full control over their digital footprints." (p. 4) 

III.-Find the words or expressions in the text that mean (1 mark)

• 1. investigation, study: research (p. 1, l. 2)
• 2. precisely, exactly: accurately (p. 2, l. 2)
• 3. normal, usual, standard: average (p. 2, l. 6)
• 4. to make better: to improve (p. 3, l. 2)

WRITING

IV.-Write a composition of about 130 words on one of these topics. Specify your option. (3 marks)

• 1. What do you do to protect your privacy on the internet? Do you know anybody who has had problems because of information they have uploaded on the web? Discuss.
• 2. "In the future our lives and habits will become an open-book for computers to read." Do you agree or disagree? Write an opinion essay about this topic.

+EXÁMENES RESUELTOS