The Man-Computer Symbiosis article was a very interesting read discussing many different uses of the computer. There are a few things I found particularly interesting.
The first was the discussion of the speed miss match between a man and the computer. The author notes that the speed of the computer is much too fast for one man to handle. I found true in some cases. Everyday as I use a computer, it amazes me how useful and quickly it is able to process data almost instantaneously. Earlier in the article the author also mentions how man is able to input a few data sets and endless pages of results are able to come from the computer effortlessly. Computers really do make many processes faster and more efficient.
Another concept that interested me from the article was the voice recognition capabilities of computers. I can only imagine the large amount of work that was put into creating those programs. The author notes that it takes at least five years to create a program with only a 2000 vocabulary set. I find it extremely impressive that a machine without functioning ears, can listen to voice and code it into data that it can understand.
It seems as the potential uses of computers are limitless. I can’t wait to see how computer functions will evolve into in ten years.
Me again, Josh...I couldn't agree with you more in that it will be interesting to see where we get to go and what we'll see from the computer in ten years. Remember ten years ago (maybe your too young, I'm not...LOL)? We all thought the computer and the Internet were so amazing simply because we could email and pay bills. Dial-up...yuck, the thought now makes me want to throw-up. I found similar things as you did interesting about this article, our slowness versus the computer's speed for one...great minds I guess. Ttys, J.
ReplyDeleteI recently became the proud owner of a Blackberry Tour. Having never had this much power at my disposal in a phone, I've found that once you go smart phone it's hard to go back.
ReplyDeleteStill, I wonder whether I'm actually doing myself a disservice by saddling myself with so much information 24 hours a day. There's an innocence I feel is being lost by making myself readily available via phone, chat, e-mail, and GPS tracking signal.
This is a problem not addressed in the reading. Licklider's optimism, for all its rousing optimism, never considers the way technology might affect us on a more personal level. Of course computers, being the behemoth structures they were in those days, were hardly seen as something for personal use, let alone a mobile device that could fit inside one's own pocket.
* Licklider's perspective (third paragraph, second sentence)
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