Friday, April 1, 2011

Computer World Dominance or Dumbinence


I seriously doubt computers will ever "take over the world" for one simple reason: communication. I'm an Information Technology Major and I, also, work in the computer field. The problem is that for all their impressive processing power computers show their weaknesses in some pretty significant ways.

Look at voice recognition. As humans, one of our greatest evolutionary technologies was our development in language. Computers have language too--its called binary--but while it is, indeed, a very precise code with a demanding syntax structure, it is not nearly as sophisticated as human speech.

The human language is rich with nuances in inflection, diction, and tone. These are not just semantic components. They actually have power. Just think about any time you have read a text from someone, overreacted emotionally, and then acted out because of it. You maybe even ended a relationship.

When in reality the sender was simply saying something in humor. Yet, because the phone or computer could not deliver the "tone" or subtle body language of the sender, a huge error in communication occurred.

On a social level, in front of Facebook, this may seem trivial, but I wouldn't want that same machine negotiating peace in the middle east at the next Geneva Convention.

Point: Computers are dumb. They only do what we tell them to!

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