Why dumb Amazon Alexa conversations are actually really smart

If you've tried to conduct a conversation with Amazon Alexa, you know just how stilted it can be. "Alexa, will you..." followed by "I don't understand what you mean." The Holy Grail, of course, would be to carry on a multi-faceted conversation, with Alexa responding to a command like "play me some music" with a question of which kind, how loud, etc. Such a voice-driven future is just that, however: The future. Well, it turns out that Alexa plays dumb on purpose.