> Logic and critical thinking textbooks typically discuss slippery slope arguments as a form of fallacy but usually acknowledge that "slippery slope arguments can be good ones if the slope is real—that is, if there is good evidence that the consequences of the initial action are highly likely to occur. The strength of the argument depends on two factors. The first is the strength of each link in the causal chain; the argument cannot be stronger than its weakest link. The second is the number of links; the more links there are, the more likely it is that other factors could alter the consequences."

Indeed, many people don't realize that accusations of committing the (or any) fallacy need to come with justifications of their own.

[1]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope#Non-fallacious_...

> Watching an unusually well-Foleyed action movie on a good sound system can probably fool any recognition system Google can jam into next year's $150 smart speaker.

Sure, but pair that with "Shazam!" style song recognition and now it knows you're watching a movie, and what movie it is, and can more easily filter for false positives there, no?

5. "Your kids are having sex, Shall I ask if they are using a condom?"

I would disagree that example is a slippery slope, but more of a leap across a vast canyon.

Going from providing information and requesting an action, to making an automated decision and action, is much more difficult as you pointed out. Therefore I'd be very surprised to see this actually occur.

> Watching an unusually well-Foleyed action movie on a good sound system can probably fool any recognition system Google can jam into next year's $150 smart speaker.

Many of the smart speakers use microphone arrays. Amazon Echo has 7 in its array, showing that arrays are feasible in $150 smart speakers (Echo 3rd Gen is $100). Even the Echo Dot has 4. Google seems a little lacking in this respect--Google Home only had 2 it seems.

These devices then should be able to recognize that a sound they hear, like glass breaking, is actually coming from more that one distinct source, and the directions of those sources. It should also be able to recognize that it often hears duplicated sounds from those same directions, and infer that this is where speakers for the user's home theater are.

It would be a neat feature, though, if these smart speakers recognized the sounds that home theaters calibration systems such as Audyssey use so after you get a smart speaker, you could tell you A/V receiver to run through calibration. The smart speaker could then recognize that and learn about all of your home theater speakers.

Ah, google and their hapless hardware updates accidentally spying on users, killing my friend's and others Nexus phones as well as my own Nexus Player (oops!). No more Google hardware for me.