More than fifty years ago, Doug Engelbart showed a preview of the future. Engelbart’s idea was that computers of the future should be optimized for human needs: communication and collaboration. Instead of punch cards and taking a while to process, computers should have keyboards and screens that are responsive. So, he with his time built a working prototype: the oN Line System -the first hypertext system. When he typed a word, it appeared simultaneously on his screen in San Francisco and on a terminal screen at the Stanford Research Institute. When Engelbart moved his mouse, the cursor moved in both locations.
The demonstration was impressive not just because Doug Engelbart wanted to show off new technology. He wanted to demonstrate a system for improving humanity. We can easily recognize those fundamental elements of modern personal computing like command input, navigation, the computer mouse, typing, real-time editing, file linking… from different applications and platforms like Windows, Google, Facebook, or Figma. To Engelbart, his work was never about the technology itself, but about helping people work together to solve the world’s biggest problems.
Computer engineering has grown way more than just collaborative and communication. In giant tech companies like Microsoft or Google, there are still massive rooms that have tons and tons of computers. They are deeply connected with each other and running extremely complicated programs, sending information back and forth between each other all the time. That artificial intelligence with highly complex algorithms that only a handful of people that actually understand it. As humans, we almost lost control of these systems. The problem is not finding ways to control the computers as a tool, the problem right now is keeping that tool as simply just a tool but not a manipulative intelligence that potentially causes more harm to society. We are so used to the computers integrated with almost every aspects of our lives that we almost forget how powerful it can be . Am I a pessimistic? Maybe, but at the end of the day, I don’t want to see how computer’s growth can harm our growth as human and as a society.
Everything has two sides, we may lose control of computers in the future, but I definitely hope the computer could grow better and better
thank you for your sharing
I like how you talked about the downsides of the computer. I definitely take my computer and the internet for granted. I agree that the computer is a great tool, but without people considering the bad parts, it could be harmful.
It’s so hard for people to know when enough is enough. I want computer to get better and better but I also want what’s best for everyone! Maybe one day we will find balance as a society and we will all be so much happier with good tech that we know how to use responsibly.
Interestinf statement! Yes, i kind of agree that I think computers ifself could change in the future depending on how we use and control all the data.
In a way, I kind of agree that we could be losing control of computers; or maybe it’s just we’ve seen too many “machines taking over the world” movies like The Matrix or Terminator series.