Is this unique to Siri, or do all voice assistants/computer programs exhibit this?
Long story short, I think direct vocal query to gain one piece of rote information is a terribly inefficiant way to develop a ToM of someone/something. If Apple wants to bring siri to the next level they need to figure out a way for us to learn about her abilities passively. The catch however is that I dont want siri bugging me all the time, but maybe sparsely she could give me a popup that says "hey I can do that for you". Particularly if she has 'seen' me do it 100 times and think she could save me a few minutes of effort. That imo would be more game-changing than adding additional siri-api for developers, which will add a bunch more eastereggs that i will never discover.
Siri is a cartographer. It seems like she has good domain specific mastery of maps, directions, places, etc. and not to mention, she might even have have an thin (but growing )representation of her own, about my desires and what I know and dont know when it comes to geospatial logistics. In maps Siri really shines, right? I could say something like "Siri, where is the nearest Jack-in-the-Box" and via Maps she say stuff like - There are two Jacks within 3.1 miles, but you might also be interested in knowing there's an In-n-Out and a Shake-Shack nearby as well. In-in-out is currently not as busy as it usually is this time of day, and examining traffic patters I've formulated a shortcut. Should I give you those directions?
Then a few min later I might be eating a double-double and say "Hey Siri, how much memory do I have left on my phone?" and she will reply "Sorry I can't help you with that" (the actual response I got to that question just now). Know thyself Siri! Anyway, it's just stuff like which makes it so difficult to pin down what she is capable of.
But I'd be satisfied if Siri were to master of a few more apps in a domain general manner. That way I can continue avoiding the rote memorization of commands and simply rely on Siri being a domain general boss at this or that app. Paticularly for other use-cases where (as in maps) it actually makes sense to get and recieve info via voice and not simply interacting with the screen.