In my last post I harangued
about the computerization of automobiles which has transformed cars from icons
to mere modes of transportation.
Back in the 1960’s Alvin
Toffler wrote the book Future Shock
which premised that society would be unable to adjust to rapid change: this, of
course has been disproved by the advent of computers.
In 1983 I was introduced to
basic computing while attending college.
Since that time computers have brought about unbelievable change in only
thirty years. It is as though we stepped
out of the mechanical dark ages into a time of unlimited technology.
To understand the quantum
advancements in computers you must understand the basic unite of byte.
Basically one byte is eight
binary digits which compose one character or one letter.
·
1 Kilobyte =
1,000 Bytes
·
1 Megabyte =
1,000 Kilobytes or 1,000,000 (one million) Bytes
·
1 Gigabytes =
1,000 Megabytes or 1,000,000000 (one million) Kilobytes or 1,000,000,000,000,
(one billion) Bytes.
The standard for computers in schools in 1985
when I began teaching was the Apple II with 48 kilobytes of memory. In 1990 I bought an Apple II-C+ with 500
Kilobytes of memory, and about that time Apple came out with the Macintosh with
1 Megabyte of memory.
Today inexpensive desktop
computers handle Gigabytes and more expensive units – Terabytes (trillions of
bytes.)
At this point it seems that
the only limit to computer expansion is money for research and
development. Computer scientists are
already working on computers that can learn, program and troubleshoot themselves (it seems
science fiction writers are always the catalyst for science.)
Orwell’s 1984 gave us a
picture of a world run by Big Brother: society totally manipulated by a ruling
class. But, 1984 was before the advent
of computers.
The next logical jump is a
society completely run by computers – or a God Computer: a self-learning computer
that has downloaded all the computer data in the world and manipulated and
finally stored all relevant data for immediate access; and with the ability for
logical decision making.
This would not necessarily be
a bad thing. It would means that we
would have to turn over authority from elected men of various and dubious
intelligence to a logical intellect with unlimited intelligence and amassed
knowledge.
Take medicine: If all the
medical information in the world was stored for immediate access then doctors
would only need to input a patients symptoms and the computer would diagnose
and prescribe the proper treatment.
Look at our judicial
system. I have served on jury duty and
it is a circus. You have twelve
individuals of questionable intelligence deciding the merits of a case, and a judge
with religious, personal, racial and social biases passing sentence. I had much rather have a judicial computer
containing all US and State laws and regulations, with the ability to think and
reason based on said laws, make a logical and impartial judgment on a case
involving me.
Of course there would be
technical, cultural, social and psychological hurtles to overcome. But the end results would be that instead of
our lives being controlled and manipulated in the chaotic fashion of 1984 we
would all be tied into a logical and impartial mainframe possessing all
knowledge.
Perhaps I have over thought
this…
What could possibly go wrong?
the Ol’Buzzard
