In the article Man-Computer Symbiosis, it is
interesting to see a 50-year-old perspective on something that is becoming more
real and real each day in our society. To have read this article when it was
originally published would’ve made me laugh, with computers the size of
warehouses. However, as technology continues to progress at an unprecedented
rate, I can definitely imagine a real symbiotic relationship between man and
machine in the near future. As computers continue to become more powerful while
shrinking in size, soon we will be able to computerize cells in our body and
program them to fight disease and repair organs. It sounds scary, but futurist
Ray Kurzweil doesn’t think it’s that far off.
It’s hard to imagine a world with machines and humans living
together as the author does, and even if we imagine it, its hard not to be
cynical. However, I do believe it will soon be a reality and its up to the
computer engineers and scientists to responsibly harness the incredible power
of these machines and use them for the good of the human population. Yet it’s
hard not to be scared that our world ends up like the Matrix and we all become
slaves to technology and the relationship turns from a symbiosis to one where
we are merely slaves to machines.
AG,
ReplyDeleteI’m the type of person who doesn’t really think into the future and definitely didn’t think technology could get any more advanced as it is now. It’s amazing to me how when the iPhone first came out there have now been four new versions of the phone within the last five years. Apple has shown us that technology is always changing and that it obviously will never stop. To think that a computerized cell could be put into our body in order to help fight off a disease is crazy! I sometimes wish things would just slow down so we could have enough time to enjoy what we have and not always craving the next best thing.
Hi AG,
ReplyDeleteI see that you thought about the sci-fi horror potential of this man-computer symbiosis concept too. Haha. It is funny to think about how Licklider wrote about all this so positively, whereas today, the movie industry loves tapping into the idea of computers being too smart for their own good and destroying the very people that created them! But I agree that a lot of good has come out of this technological progress. We have so many devices today that people can use to monitor their own health, making it easier for us or our doctors to treat ourselves. The idea of miniscule cells inserted into our bodies to dispense medicine and protect our bodies sounds amazing. I am sure that we can get to that point. I've heard of some of Ray Kurzweil's ideas...he's got some great ideas, and I thought many of them were kind of crazy. Maybe this one isn't so much, though!