Trying to win an argument with a robot will never end well
While playing in the Arizona Fall League on Tuesday night, Jacob Heyward -- Cubs outfielder Jason Heyward's younger brother -- got rung up on a strike three call that he thought was low. He was upset, and he wanted the people responsible to know about it.
The only problem? The strike call didn't come from the umpire, but from a robot. Or, to be more accurate, an automated ball-strike system that is connected to an iPhone that wires the call to the umpire's earpiece.
That frustration on Heyward's face? That's you when you've forgotten to save your work and beg and plead, all while the blue screen of your computer just stares impassively back at you. It's everyone who's ever whacked the side of the vending machine that just ate your beloved Twix bar.
If modern life has taught us anything, it's that the machines care not for our pesky emotions or what we want them to do. They're here to make decisions, as efficiently and accurately as possible.
And, for all of Heyward's anger and strife, the computer did get the call right. Check out the chart: The ball just nipped the strike zone before diving down and toward the dirt.
