So if you’ve downed a few beers with me over the last couple of years you’ve probably found yourself engaged in a conversation about how computers are changing the way we think in dramatic ways that aren’t generally recognized. I often bring this up in meetings when I’m trying to convince skeptical instructors that there is a reason to bring new technologies to bear in the process of teaching students. The way explain this to them runs something like this: think about the invention of the calculator, and how the general population can no longer perform anything but the most basic math in their heads. Now think about how computers displaced typewriters as the way we produce text, and how the general population can no longer really spell. In both cases the machine has removed the need for us to know how to do those things anymore. We don’t need to know how to spell, we just get the computer to fix it.

The same thing is happening with the internet. The bulk of the world’s knowledge is at your fingertips. It’s no longer neccesary to commit the various facts you find important to memory, all you have to do is ask the computer. Who hit the game winning single in the 85 world series? Off to google I go. What the heck is 1066 all about again? Oh, google knows. What the hell does Loquacious mean? dict.org has the answer.

So, it’s a useful exercise to think about these things and it does often help me convince instructors that there are larger societal trends at work that they should try and glom onto. But I’m mentioning this today because there’s an interesting article in the guardian that extends this and imagines what the world might look like in 30 years or so given these sorts of changes that are taking place. The disturbing thing is, it’s really pretty damned scary. I mean yeah, this jetsons future is cool and all on some levels, but I’m still scared as shit that the predictions that started emerging in the 60’s about how the machines will eventually supercede us are really destined to come true. Sobering and scary stuff. The worst thing is this article leads me to conclude it could actually happen in my lifetime.

Damn Moore’s law! Yeah, I’m getting killer framerates in quake now, but if the fucking machine is going to be bossing me around in 15-20 years, I want out!

😉