A Logic Named Joe
That was written in 1946? Whoever wrote it really had an
imagination about computers. Especially since computers in the 40’s and
50’s were super different. Luckily, our society has not gotten to such an
extreme point like the one in the story, yet. Just like in
the story, anyone could ask their logics questions they didn’t know the answer
to, we too can ask internet search engines questions, and they give us the
answers. Unlike Joe’s answers, the answers we get aren’t always true and
simple. Search engines just list off websites that have material related to the
question. And those websites that pop up are created by people who could or
could not be professionals, thus we have to sort through every webpage or
website to find what we are really searching for, and when we find it, it’s not
a simple step-by-step answer, if we even do find something.
In this short story it was the computer - Joe -
who did most of the thinking. Joe looked up the information and Joe did
the logic to manipulate all the information into a simple answer, even
teenagers could understand. Little kids could counterfeit and find
treasure with Joe’s instructions. Even a drunk could get sober heeding
Joe’s solution. Adults wanted to know how to tell if their spouses were
faithful to them, and what to do if they weren’t. Joe could bring up dirt
about anybody’s past. Neighbors could take a peek into the lives of each
other and find out each other’s history, the good and the bad. It’s a
small relief to know that our computers definitely cannot think like Joe.
What we can do is Google a person and we might find what social media
they use, or even if they have committed some kind of felony and other personal
information like phone numbers or addresses. We
analyze the information we get on the internet. Our computers are just
the tool we use to come up with the information. Besides, not every bit
of information on the internet can be analyzed by a human being, that would
take days on end. Joe, on the other hand could look at all the data in
the tank and in seconds, come up with a simplified answer, and deliver the
message to the user.
Joe was not a bad computer. Joe did his job the best he
could, and he was really good at it too. In the story, the humans
corrupted the system. The problem wasn’t that Joe could get information on
anything, the problem was how corrupt the humans got asking Joe to solve their
problems. Asking questions on how to rob banks, murder wives, make a ton of
money quick, and more! Like they couldn’t solve their problems on their
own. Maybe they just needed a computer to validate their bad decisions.
Maybe they thought it was OK to do all of those bad things when their
Logics told them how to do it. After all aren’t Logics supposed to help
their users and give them the best solutions? They wanted a quick
solution to erase their mistakes, or reward themselves with riches. Like
money could make them happy. Joe, was actually a miracle! His
abilities were what everyone dreams their computers could be. Imagine a
computer that could do all of that! If there ever existed a society that
was perfectly ethical, Joe could have helped them develop even more and perhaps
become the greatest society ever. But, I don’t know of any society in the
history of the world that was ever that ethically good. Instead,
societies use the resources they have for good and bad. Besides,
criminals don’t need a computer to tell them how to commit crimes. They figure
it out themselves. Computers might supply them more ideas or help to
create better diabolical plans. Again, computers are just a tool that
could be bad or good. Good and bad have always existed with or without
computers.
Another point to be made is the fact that in their story, they
couldn’t turn off all the Logics because society had been built on them.
Our society as well, has been built on the foundation of computers.
We can’t just stop using them. That would be like telling a diabetic to
stop using insulin. Everything we use daily would stop working-literally.
No more using credit cards at the grocery store, no more going to the
doctors and having them bring up your history with a click of a mouse, no more
smart phones! It would be like living on a new planet, where you actually
had to write on paper, or go to the library. How inconvenient!
I see how computers influence each one of us. They are a part of
our lives and we take them for granted a lot of the time. Good and bad have
come from them, but the computers aren’t the problem, it’s us, the people, who
need to check our moral system.
I totally agree that people are the ones that make computers bad. I mean humans are the ones that fill the internet, and the internet is just like a big folder that holds all the information for people to find.
ReplyDeleteIt's the same saying we hear about anything used as a weapon, "it's not the weapon that's dangerous. It's the person wielding the weapon that makes it dangerous." It's freaky how much a stranger can dig into my life without me knowing it through social media. I've heard a lot of stories of people's lives being ruined because a stalker won't leave them alone or if they are blackmailed.
ReplyDeleteI agree when you say good and bad have come from them, but the computers aren’t the problem, it’s us, the people, who need to check our moral system. Because we are the ones who use Internet technology to our advantage. However, we have to be aware that we need to make good choices and not get carried away by unscrupulous places that only lead to brainwash of whoever falls into their hands.
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