Oh but you can.
2001: A Space Odyssey hit the theaters on this date in 1968. When HAL said this to Dave, one of the astronauts, it was momentous. A machine - computers were and are machines - denying a human action was truly the work of science fiction. No one owned a computer. The ones that NASA was using to do calculations for the man on the moon stuff were about as powerful as a wristwatch so HAL was outlandish; a figment of imagination.
I've spent the better part of the last month with my SO who is in hospital filled with gadgets and gizmos that were and are equally unimaginable just years ago. Their blips and bleeps control just about every decision made in health care. The one thing they lack and HAL lacked was common sense. That appears to be in short supply.
About 60 years ago, I felt really puny...I mean I was a grey-green-yuck so my mom plunked me down at the office of Dr. A.O. Bachmann, MD, who said he needed to draw blood and have it tested and it would take 3 days to get the results. "What do I do in the mean time"? my mother asked. We are putting him in the hospital right now and will wait for the tests was the reply. "Just look at him. It is obvious he is sick....I don't need test results to tell you that". It was common sense and decisions were made based on training and instinct.
I guess that is my point; You can either use machines or they can use you. End of sermon.
Comments
Post a Comment