Reading Response 1

Man-Computer Symbiosis: J.C.R Licklider

Firstly, the piece reminded me of the importance of having both philosophers and technologists working together to create visionary larger ideas of the future. Although smaller technical advancements are crucial, there is a big need for those who can look further out at the possibilities and wider advancements that may be obstructed from view in the day-to-day corporate developing, based solely on business needs.

The next thought I had whilst reading Licklidner’s piece was is he describing our current conception of data science/machine learning, or something more? If Licklidner were able to see how we interact with technology today, would it have been close to what he was predicting? From my understanding of the currents state of technological progress, it seems like some elements of technology filling in the gaps of mechanical thinking have certainly been achieved, however other aspects, namely such as the speed mismatch between humans and computers doesn’t seem to have been completely resolved. Although unfamiliar with exactly what cloud computing entails, it seems to somewhat entail what Licklidner was referring to in his section on memory hardware requirements (unsure?).

Certainly, Licklidner’s hope that “the computer will expedite the finding, delivering and returning of books” has been accomplished to a large extent through the online access of journals, archive search centres and processing programs, and services like Amazon or Kindle. This is a way in which the concept of a search engine has greatly reduced standard human processing time and given us access to information at a rate never previously possible. Licklidner’s hopes surrounding the processing of data and memory requirements have also been achieved. I’m not sure if this is completely relevant, but it reminds me of Moore’s law, which states that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years, although the cost of computers is halved.

Furthermore, his point about speech production and recognition rings particularly true in the world we live with technology such as Google Home, Siri, etc. It is interesting to read about postulations about the future, now looking back at the perspective of the future, and realising that everything that surrounds us once started as a simple distant ambitious thought, progressing into our today. This observation was striking: “two or three years ago, it appeared that automatic recognition of size-able vocabularies would not be achieved for ten or fifteen years; that it would have to await much further, gradual accumulation of knowledge…Now, however many see a prospect” → this highlights the intense speed of change taking place, and how difficult it is to make any form of predictions (as it often made with Artificial General Intelligence).

I also enjoyed his point about how programming often requires a certain level of clear thinking and forethought, as this is what I personally experienced during my computer science and is the reason why I enjoyed it. In this sense, it reminds me a lot of philosophy and specifically the logical thought patterns required for argumentation.

The Ultimate Display: Ivan Sutherland

“A display connected to a digital computer gives us a chance to gain familiarity with concepts not realisable in the physical world. It is a looking glass into a mathematical wonderland” → I enjoyed this articulation of the power of computers and the digital atmosphere. Although the physical world is seen as being our true sense of ‘reality’, it is merely the dimension we are most familiar and acquainted to, which makes me wonder if it would ever possible to imagine a world where we are more acquainted with the digital (a la Matrix).

“The facility with which such an interaction system lets its user interact with the computer is remarkable” → The fascination and wonder at seemingly basic manual-input devices, like drag and drop, is very interesting to read at this point in time, given the current state of technological advancements. It is very easy to forget the smallest of discoveries and how elemental they were in the early stages, and how influential they were.

I also appreciated his use of thought experiments to imagine a triangle that becomes rounded whichever corner it is looked at. Again, I think these types of more philosophical, curious thought experiments are crucial for the safe development of technology.

“The ultimate display would, of course, be a room within which the computer can control the existence of matter” → although an interesting thought to play with, this does sound a bit scary and again blurs the lines of reality, breaking the boundaries of our current world. If a digital existence seemed that real, then what would be the difference between it and our actual world? And then how do we define reality more broadly speaking if that were to happen? It seems like these kinds of prospects are very far off technologically speaking, but advancements have also been made at a far faster rate than initially predicted, so it is also hard to say.

A Survey of Augmented Reality Technologies, Applications and Limitations: Krevelen and Poelman

This reading was interesting to read for all the potential use cases AR had. There are many more than I had initially thought and have been exposed to personally, which was exciting to learn…especially the imagined technologies in the introductory paragraph, such as surgeons seeing ultrasound scans of organs while performing surgery on them, reading reviews for each restaurant in the street are walking in.

“Imagine a technology with which you could see more than others see, hear more than others head, and perhaps even touch, smell and taste things that others can not” → this kind of higher level articulation about technology is very awe-inspiring and I think should be used more often and more generally, especially when appealing to wider audiences about new technology.

I found it particularly enlightening to read about the limitations of AR, such as portability and outdoor use, tracking and (auto)calibration, depth perception, overload and over-reliance, and social acceptance. [As a sidenote, it was funny to see the nokia phone used in the graphic of the hand-held video.]