Notes on Artificial Intelligence and Education in
The Age of The Computer 25.6.24
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by
PrintKey 2000
Artificial Intelligence, Life & Consciousness
Education in the Age of the Computer
Artificial Intelligence, Life, and
Consciousness
WARNING: If you do not wish to know about non-linear dynamical systems, chaos, entropy, criticality, phase transitions, complexity, emergence, quantum theory, and even about life itself as merely being a property of organised matter with evolution as the principle organising factor, plus associated ideas, debates, and other disturbing evidence of an impermanent and non-human-centred Universe, then you are well advised to waste no time on studying the following Notes.
Otherwise, for those
who are interested in such matters, these brief Notes and
Bibliography are offered as a basis for beginning the study of
the origins and continuing development of Artificial Life,
Intelligence and Consciousness, and comparison with the human
versions. Life manifests
intelligence and consciousness, so if artificial life is to
exist, there must be parallels to biological life as we know
it, and hence AL must manifest these qualities.
Thus, physics and biology are drawn closer together in
the search to understand any form of life that may exist,
however constituted. Also, and
most importantly for humans and the scope of their own
intelligence, this inevitably raises the question of when or
whether there will be a true Turing Test that will establish
any possible artificial intelligence as being equal or better
than human intelligence.
The history and
development of computers, and IT in general, is thus so
intricately bound up with these and other questions, that
reading about one aspect inevitably leads on to acquiring
ever-wider knowledge and understanding of the implications of
the existence of this technology. The
debate about artificial life is just one example of this
knowledge networking, and this is also reflected in the books
chosen for the Bibliography.
The Notemaker here
merely defers to the rich and well-written sources listed
herein, and offers instead just a short, and general,
introduction to these topics, while offering to share
some
very interesting reading experience.
Firstly, using clear and sustainable definitions of life, intelligence and consciousness is important, as is recognising the fact that the quality of these faculties is a relative matter, and that self-awareness is also an important criterion in human and ‘other’ life forms for enhancing the intrinsic quality of these faculties. (Animals have already been subjected, crudely or otherwise, to these anthropomorphic comparisons.) The more complex the organism or machine, ie, the more ‘alive’ it is, the more important self-awareness, including self-appraisal, is, for assessing the degree of intelligence and consciousness present within the entity being studied.
If AI has a machine
body to dwell within, and the equivalent of a human biological
body, so there should be these corresponding faculties within
each corpus, and similar interactions with external physical
or intellectual ambience should be possible.
Of course, androids and cyborgs, when sufficiently
sentient and self-aware, may have their own opinions on what
constitute a body..? Intelligence
implies Life, and vice versa, no matter how humbly may be the
perceived manifestations?
For all aspiring of putative life forms, to be alive, intelligent, and conscious there must be sensory input, proprioception, self-awareness, self-appraisal, self-preservation, ongoing learning, environmental and intellectual interaction, spontaneity of thought, pursuit of ideas, pattern recognition and problem-solving abilities, plus survival in complex environments, to name some necessary and/or sufficient criteria. That great conundrum, common sense, to be applied in any given situation, should also be obviously manifest for human and/or artificial intelligence to be viable. Self-reproduction is another intrinsic ability required for higher life forms.
Artificial Intelligence is now advancing by utilising pattern recognition for machine learning and commonsense. AI will, and must, evolve as human intelligence has in this respect, because it is impossible to build in the potential scope of knowledge and commonsense, this being infinite for both human and machine. Commonsense here is defined as application of both past experience and/or learning pattern recognition abilities allied with considered decision-making, although this definition may, of course, be open to discussion. In short, valid pattern recognition must be coupled with effective pattern synthesis, or algorithm synthesis in computer terms, to manifest as both real and applied commonsense, for AI, II, or human intelligence development. (Note II=Indistinguishable Intelligence.)
Some humans will
welcome the challenge of developing artificial intelligence
and consciousness, others will be fearful and intimidated, or
else too egotistical to entertain the idea of such
intellectual equality or even possible eclipse.
But humans will learn more about themselves as this
research is advanced, and also the definitions of these
standards will be made clearer. One
thing is for certain, a successful and valid Turing Test will
surely help to define the limits of human intelligence, and
that the principle limitation may ultimately be biological. Even now, our computer creations
work at faster speeds than we ever will, albeit with simple
and oft-repeated steps at present.
To avoid the reefs of
semantic dispute, on which other aspects of the discussion may
founder, the generality of terms used in this instance is
conceded. But, for those wishing
to fruitfully pursue such matters, the advice is to establish
early and commonly accepted
meanings on which to base further pursuit of these ideas, and
to be prepared for further refinements. Indeed,
as an example, consideration has been given to Artificial
Intelligence being regarded as Alternative, Other-Worldly, or
Non-Human Intelligence as being less pejorative, and thereby
helping to develop more rational and relevant descriptions of
what we humans are wont to call at present merely artificial
intelligence.
Of course, this
intelligence must then be compared to what we think We as humans have, which should include our
biological limitations as well, both physical and temporal. By studying computers, and now
artificial intelligence, we are also advancing knowledge of
our own thinking processes and intelligence.
We may find that new and better standards of human
behaviour are established as we define what constitutes a
‘good’ and artificially intelligent and conscious machine. Do we fear that something ‘better’
than us will be created?
For a useful summary of
these topics of AI and consciousness, and relevant knowledge,
(at least in 1992), Life At The Edge Of Chaos,
Ch. 10, and Virtual Organisms, (1999), may
help with making the decision to pursue these matters further. Chaos study is also integral to
these topics, and is a good read anyway, as in James Gleick’s
groundbreaking book of the same name, which is also included
in the short Bibliography. In
these selected books, and related to chaos, are further
descriptions and discussions concerning the edge of chaos,
complexity, phase transition, criticality, entropy, entropy
equilibrium, plus increasing and diminishing returns, to name
some of the interesting topics you will discover. (Chaos is more
correctly termed deterministic chaos, as in sensitivity to
starting conditions and feedback in nonlinear systems. There
is also an inverse chaos, meaning that simple
effects may follow from complex interactions.)
The foundations of
artificial life, intelligence and consciousness are explained
by applying these definitions and mechanisms, and in turn, the
development biological life is also. One
most interesting example of this is the principle that
observed diminution of entropy should be accepted as a sign of
what we as humans would describe as ‘life’, first proposed by
James Lovelock as a testing parameter for identifying
extraterrestrial life forms during early Mars planetary
exploration.
Certainly, our
understanding of chaos and complexity have been made possible
by the availability of computing power, as have advances in so
many other disciplines utilised in everyday life, such as
medicine, science, architecture, CAD, AV, finance, information
storage and retrieval, and general library dynamics to name
just a few. Valid and useful
simulations, and model-building, are so easily obtained using
IT, as variations may be easily factored in, and outcomes
speedily presented. These models
are increasingly more important now in biology, and the
question could be posed of how much more speedily the Riddle
of DNA would have been solved with present digital
model-building capabilities? There
would also be no A380 airbus without computers and the vast IT
model-building potential needed! Even
some
of the blind among us are being helped to see by this new
computing power.
Also, the development
and continuing use of computers is now part of the history of
science. Both aspects continue to
reshape our human philosophy of scientific knowledge in two
main respects, viz, the new realization of an all-pervading
impermanence in our own lives, and, growing consciousness of
the infinite limits of scientific knowledge, both of which are
now part of our continuing human intellectual challenge. Certainly, as humans we must learn
co-operation among our own kind as never before, so that these
new dimensions of knowledge and inventiveness are enlarged. Can we improve on our past record in
this co-operation?
The knowledge and
degree of our own limitations will be tested by investigating
artificial life, so, do we just fear the findings that may
reflect badly on ourselves, or will we welcome whatever will
be further discovered about ourselves and our biological
reality? Will life, intelligence,
and consciousness, finally be defined as processes stemming
originally from organisation at a phase transition, that
evolved to emerging self-organisation and then
self-replication, both in ourselves and in other forms of life
capable of such evolution? This
is a common research theme, and where physics and biology
intercept in the search for further understanding and clear
description of the origins of life, whether artificial, or
carbon-based-biological such as humans.
The complexity of
human intelligence was derived from gradual evolutionary
modification, and this complexity will be similarly derived
for artificial intelligence. This
will also include increasing self-organisation, logic, memory,
and the increasing ability to deal with situations as they
arise, aka common sense! The
sheer speed of computing power will help compensate for the
richness of neural networks characteristic of the human brain,
but that neural richness may yet still be enabled in
artificial intelligence also? Thus,
to enlarge and enable more advanced research into the
development of intelligence et al, parallel processing,
quantum computing, and neural networks are now the main areas
of ongoing research into artificial intelligence, and indeed,
towards greater understanding of our human intelligence as
well.
By this definition, and
based on AI research, we now enter the Fifth Age of Computers. (The
other four Ages are: 1) 1940-46 Vacuum Tubes; 2) 1956-63 Transistors;
3) 1964-71 Integrated Circuits; 4)1971-Present
Microprocessors. (Really,
we would be in the Sixth Age if all those earlier
systems of counting by fingers, toes, abacuses, and later
efforts at mechanical calculation such as by Leibniz, Pascal,
Babbage, et al, that preceded vacuum tubes, were also counted
in?) Neural networks are based on
brain function and the processing of information, and
artificial intelligence in general is now being based on the
understanding and of emulation of biological processes of
learning. Hence the emphasis on
life being a necessary concomitant of artificial intelligence,
as well as having the inherent consciousness, self-awareness,
self-organising and self-adaptive faculties of biological
life-forms in general.
The history and progress of this Fifth Age research are both equally interesting, and thus, the books in the appended Bibliography also reflect an increasingly historiographical record of how scientists have developed and used interrelated science and technology as part of this research, and also how others viewed the ongoing effects and findings. In this small selection of books, the history, science, and continuing research into, the subjects of IT, the relationships of physics and biology, as well as applications to life, intelligence, and consciousness are well presented. Themes, histories, and personalities resonate, yet the various volumes listed are different enough in style and detail to provide a wider understanding than if only one or two were read. AI in particular has a very readable historical overview, and the contrasting approaches of 'top-down', or programming for specific situations, versus 'bottom-up', based more on neural networks and learning being built on, or evolving, are both especially interesting.
Computer Power and Human Reason, and Turing’s Man, both reflect the concern that such research is hubris, and/or that over-reliance on IT is counterproductive for human progress. These are the most pessimistic and cautionary of the references listed, and also the least recent. In Turing’s Man, we are cautioned to see that the computer is to be regarded merely as a machine, or, at best as a tool, but never our equal or master. Thus, synergy with this ubiquitous tool should be our aim, utilising the best of both sets of human and tool/machine abilities, no doubt for the best reasons and motives, presumably. How far this synergy will progress, while human mastery is assured is not just anyone’s guess, but is also everyone’s responsibility. IT becomes AI, becomes II, and this is inevitable, at least given the human IQ range to be emulated by II, so some of us may have been be overtaken already. I think therefore I am, versus, II therefore I am..?
{To digress, this says much about the potential of II; after all, Hal’s whole mission logic was simply the logic of The Nuremberg Defence in average expedient human terms, and the putative, and human-centred, morality of Asimov’s Robotic Laws was superseded by the overall mission objective. Also, computers may be programmable to incorporate the diversity of human logic, but what if they derive a particular form of logic outside the parameters of any possible human logic? Who knows what will ensue when the present potentially dangerous “in-our-own-image” standard and technology are exceeded? Food indeed for human thought.
At this point, II will be exceeded, no doubt, but what form will this take? Is this outside our logic parameters to predict? This is inferred by The Minor Law of Human Logic Parameters, which states simply that human intelligence, and thus human logic, are both constrained by the limits and nature of our own organic architecture. Furthermore, as long as our own checks and balances are unresolved, how can we instigate these in, or determine predictable cohabitation with, our future II creations? What happens when our creations, evolving with an organic/mechanistic nature, begin self-replication as higher intelligence is achieved?
Much is made of common sense being a human trait that no computer could match, but common sense derives from a mixture of experience and intelligence, (relying on association and pattern recognition), and a willingness to use both, or, constructive experience-based conjecture that should manifest as commonsense; a computer is always “willing”, has computing power and speed well beyond that of humans, can be programmed with the infinite possibilities of constructive conjecture that characterise basic human intelligence, and even be taught as humans are taught, including pattern recognition. What of the ultimate human-machine synergy of a human brain linked directly to computing power? The cyborg of science fiction is certainly an increasing possibility, the ultimate synergy of human and computer! Nothing like few healthy what-if conjectures..?}
We can, after all, as
Bolter states in his Conclusion to
Turing's Man, pull
the plug when necessary, surely? Or,
will independent machines also have independent power sources? Yet again, how will we view, and
relate to, cyborgs? Plug-pulling
in this instance could have a whole new meaning!
Any sensible intelligence dependent on a power source,
organic or otherwise, would tend to protect this vital
life-support from unplugging or other forms of disruption,
surely? All this will be part of
building and managing ‘The Future’, and as well, if these
IT/AI/II machines are in our own image, can we avoid the
transferring the (relative?) problems of our own human nature? How will trust and responsibility be
manifested within ‘other’ intelligence? New
challenges will surely abound!
Anyway, an early
version of the Turing Test was Joseph Weizenbaum’s ELIZA program of the 60’s, formulated for a
sympathetic question-and-answer interaction with humans. The results were surprising, (see
the Introduction, Computer Power and Human
Reason), not least because this proves that humans, at
least when in subjective or self-centred mode, are no match
for a very basic Turing Test! However,
regardless of Deep Blue’s strategic chess computations, the real Turing Test with a fully conscious and
self-aware non-human intellectual entity is yet to come,
although it is surely just a matter of when?
This is the opinion of the later publications, and the
difference in publishing dates reflects the speed and
increasing scope of this research, as well as itemising the
history.
The two Turing Test references discuss what the parameters of a Turing test should be, as well as the form(s) this should takes, such as verbal or non-verbal. Some contributors appear resentful that a Turing Test should even be considered, others state that humans will be intrigued by the emerging challenge, as well as the opportunity for ongoing interaction with such a sentient and successful machine. AI becomes II, or, Artificial Intelligence becomes Indistinguishable Intelligence, irrespective of its actual nature!
Digital
Soul very
competently studies the sorts of questions that would be posed
by intelligent lay-people concerned about emerging artificial
intelligence and consciousness, including the dimension of
morality, and its social contexts. Free
will and its implications are considered, (pp. 86-90), and an
interesting question is posed as to whether free will is the
beginning of thinking, or the end? What
form will free will or intelligence other than ours actually
take? Surely there is no
universal constant of what constitutes free will?
For those with delusions of intellectual grandeur, Roger Penrose’s two books are for you. But other more modest and self-effacing researchers should first read The Third Culture, especially pp. 239-257, and then decide if further action re investigating this particular emporer’s mind, and its various shadows, (such as a fear of being superseded by a mere computer?), is warranted. This Notemaker also skipped the main exercise after a quick thumb-through! Decoding the Universe, in particular, provides a convincing rebuttal, pp. 212-216, of the idea that the brain does not support quantum consciousness, due to physical storage deficiencies that promote decoherence of information, and thus system entropy.
Understanding Intelligence introduces embodied cognitive science, including the importance of differentiating respective autonomous agents, and estimating their combined contribution to the emergence of robotic autonomy. Self-sufficiency, autonomy, situatedness, embodiment, adaptability, ecological niches, and universality are defined and explained, as well as emphasising the need for an interdisciplinary approach to studying and developing artificial intelligence and robotics. The sheer complexity of AI development is also well presented.
Out of Their Minds, in the two sections ‘Architects’ and ‘Biological Connections’ has very interesting studies
about two AI problems, firstly of machine intelligence
hardware architecture, and, of duplicating other human neural
activities such as massive parallel processing, both in time,
and in space, which humans conduct naturally, as individuals
and in groups. Not only must machines think
‘neurally’ to advance artificial intelligence to human levels,
or beyond, they must also be massive parallel processors as
well, which could be limited by the human-originated
technology required to build them to this stage.
When these limitations are overcome, linking both
humans and AI machines by networks, when optimised, will
greatly enhance all sorts of intelligence gathering and
application. Human intelligence, currently using the
Mind At Light Speed, true to
subtitle, A New Kind of Intelligence, discusses
how AI can be expanded and improved by optical and quantum
computing, the powers of both, particularly quantum, would
introduce the scale of pattern recognition and associative
potential of which humans are finitely capable, which implies
that human intelligence will eventually be superseded in
‘computing power’. Needless to say,
Moore’s Law would now longer apply with these computing
technologies..? Infinite computing
power, and an infinite ‘work ethic,’ will thus combine in AI
minds operating at light speed!
The Third Culture is concerned with
scientific writing, (and also contains papers relevant to the
aforementioned topics), that maximises communication with
ordinary people, an essential element of understanding
scientific direction, as well as enabling perspective for
future decision-making to support any scientific research. Public perceptions of acceptability
and relevance do depend on public education and understanding,
and science writers represented in The Third
Culture are most important as presenters of clear and
understandable scientific writing, including the
study of artificial life and intelligence!
Finally, The Unnatural Nature of Science is a study of the nature of Science itself, that particular discipline so central to all the issues under discussion here. Scientific progress tends to be more serendipitous than serial, and very often chance does favour the prepared mind. We must also must understand what Science is in order to know and understand what Science is actually doing, as a process as well as a discipline, so that we all may understand and support the need for continuing scientific research and development.
Meanwhile, we should
all keep our powder dry and minds open in regards to ongoing
matters of Artificial Life, Consciousness, And All That, and,
as already suggested, you can further draw your own personal
conclusions, if you wish, from the reading of some or all of
the following suggested references, including the
Notemaker's Picks:
AI, D. Crevier, BasicBooks 1993, ISBN 0465029973
Artificial Intelligence, B. Whitby, One World 2003, ISBN 1851683224
Artificial Life, S.
Levy, Jonathan Cape 1992, ISBN 0224035991
Chaos, J. Gleick, Penguin
1987, ISBN 0140092501
Cognisers,
R. Johnson & C.
Brown, Wiley 1988, ISBN 0471611611
Complexity, M.
Waldrop, Viking 1992, ISBN 0670850454
Computer Power and Human Reason, J. Weizenbaum, Freeman 1976, ISBN 0716704641
Decoding the Universe, C. Seife, Viking 2006, ISBN 067003441X
Deep
Simplicity, J.
Gribbin, Penguin 2004, ISBN 0713996102
Digital Soul, T. Georges, Westview 2003, ISBN 0813340578
Does God
Play Dice? I.
Stewart, Penguin 1989, ISBN 0631168478
Emergence, S. Johnson, Touchstone 2001, ISBN 068486875X
Frontiers of Complexity, P. Coveney & R. Highfield, Fawcett Columbine 1995, ISBN 0449908321
Growing Up With Lucy, S. Grand, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, ISBN 0297607332
Into The Heart of the Mind, F. Rose, Century 1985, ISBN 0712608060
Life At The Edge of Chaos, R. Lewin, McMillan 1992, ISBN 0025704850
Mind At
Light Speed, D. Nolte, Free Press 2001, ISBN 0743205014
Out of
Their Minds, D.
Shasha
& A. Lazere, Copernicus 1995, ISBN 0387979921
Natural
Born Cyborgs, A.
Clark, OUP 2003, ISBN
0195148665
Shadows
Of The Mind, R.
Penrose, OUP 1994, ISBN 0198539789
Spiritual
Machines, R.
Kurzweil, Allen & Unwin 1999, ISBN 1865080268
The Bit
and the Pendulum, T.
Siegfried, John Wiley, ISBN 0471321745
The
Emporer’s New Mind, R.
Penrose, OUP 1989, OUP 1989, ISBN
0198519737
The Garden In The Machine, C. Emmeche,
The
Turing Test, ed.
J Moor, Kluwer Academic Press 2003, ISBN 1402012047
The Third Culture,
J. Brockman, Simon & Schuster 1995, ISBN
0684803593
The
Turing Test, ed.
S. Schieber, Bradford MIT 2004, ISBN 0262692937
The Unnatural Nature of Science,
Lewis Wolpert, Faber
1993
ISBN 0571169724
Turing’s Man, J. Bolter, Uni. N. Carolina Press 1984, ISBN 0807815640
Understanding Intelligence, R. Pfeiffer & P. Scheier, MIT 1999, ISBN 0262161818
Virtual Organisms, M. Ward, Macmillan 1999, ISBN 0333724828
See also A Computer Beginner's Survival Factfile, Introduction
ADDENDA:
Chaos in computer performance. If you think the complex microchips that drive modern computers are models of deterministic precision, think again. Their behaviour is inherently unpredictable and chaotic, a property one normally associates with the weather. Intel’s widely used Pentium 4 microprocessor has 42 million transistors and the newer Itanium 2 has no fewer than 410 million. Chaos theory can explain the unpredictable behaviour. The National Research Institute for Information and Automation in Orsay, France, ran a standard program repeatedly on a simulator which engineers routinely use to design and test microprocessors, and found that the time taken to complete the task varied greatly from one run to the next. But, within the irregularity, the team detected a pattern, the mathematical signature of “deterministic chaos”, a property that governs other chaotic systems such as weather. Such systems are extremely sensitive - a small change at one point can lead to wide fluctuations at a later time. For complex microprocessors, this means that the precise course of a computation, including how long it takes, is sensitive to the processor’s state when the computation began. (Issue 2507 of New Scientist, 11 July 2005.)
Parts
of the human brain operate on binary principles. Neurons in the human
pre-frontal cortex are binary, ie, either active or inactive,
and the basal ganglia switches pre-frontal cortex parts on and
off. Digital computers operate using principles of on/off, and
also employ dynamic switching between these states.
(Science, Issue of 6October 2006)
Anon and Trad
both state that computers and their systems are presently so
complex and ad hoc, in both development and function, that it
is a wonder that they do go at all. Perhaps rather like
their own creators? So, wonder in your turn own, but do
continue to persevere with care, and then enjoy the fruits of
your joint and synergistic endeavours!
Postscript 10.7.24:
Artificial Intelligence has gone from
Indistinguishable to emerging General intelligence, with
an ever-increasing number of applications, as well as
increasingly supplanting humans in the work force.
Data-collection, with willing human participation, gives
further advantages to AI/II/GI, some being beneficial to
humans, some not. Also, there is an increasing energy
penalty to be paid, as more and more computer power is
needed for data-banks, server warehouses, plus, energy
grids dedicated to always-on, and high quality power
delivery. This latter is a concern in the age of
increasing climate change, prompting a move away from
fossil fuels, towards alternate energy sources. War
zones have become more AI-utilizing, with drones and
other surveillance relieving troops of direct contact,
but, not doing the same for civilians, so often victims
of AI glitches, as well as human misuse….
Notes on Education in the Age
of the Computer
Firstly, some relevant definitions: IT, or Information Technology, in general usage really stands for all the convergent technology, including the computers and software, and both terms of ‘IT’ and ‘computers’, in common usage anyway, have become interchangeable, even if not strictly so. The computer is the machine or tool with which computations and other digital operations are carried out, and usually includes connected peripherals in this definition. Information technology, more strictly speaking, deals with storage, processing and dissemination of information, especially using computers.
Technology is applied science, as well as being a general descriptive, (and sometimes pejorative!), term. Data is a matter of facts, with the additional duty of having a digital existence as stored information featuring in digital operations. Information ranges from knowledge and facts to instruction, news, statistical and digital values, and even a given entity of itself being an item of information, in an abstract scientific sense. Finally, education is the systematic instruction of children, and adults, to develop mental and physical prowess, plus intellectual powers, and to train is to discipline, or teach, particular skills. This assemblage of data/facts/information, also in a general sense, was compiled with help from The Shorter Oxford, 1990.
Of increasingly greater significance now, in the 21st Century, is the fact that contemporary education in the age of the computer not only applies to humans, either as an ongoing process, or, in order to optimize benefits gained form IT in general, but also to more sophisticated programming and actual education of computers themselves, especially as bottom-up evolutionary-type computer education is developed, such as for improving artificial intelligence based on neural network development.
This has also led to greater understanding of human intelligence, and more systematic analysis of thought and action processes, that we ourselves have for so long taken for granted, that they may be re-produced and further developed by and for artificial intelligence, wherever, and irrespective of, where that may lead. There are at present definite parallels with human and artificial intelligence, but there will be evermore-evolving differences as time goes by, (e.g., are grey areas for humans the equivalent of fuzzy logic for AI??), including even potentially differing natures of intelligence; furthermore, all of these factors will be contributing to the sum of human knowledge, and to the development of new disciplines and research directions.
However, with at least the present perspective of nearly 50 years of increasingly widespread computer use, the worst fears of the IT Luddites and Doomsayers, for human well-being, have not been realized. Computers have enhanced our human minds, and enlarged our intellectual world, while at the same time making our physical world smaller, more understandable, and more accessible. Communications, science, planning, architecture, engineering, graphic arts and medicine, to name a few, have benefited greatly from this technology. Libraries continue to thrive, not least because they have wholeheartedly embraced this new technology, children still play sport, and we have not all become hackers or computer potatoes, indeed, human weakness for drugs and fast foods is more of a threat to continuing civilisation than computers and/or IT. Excuses for sloth also abounded long before computers graced our world!
Since the 1960s especially, alarms have been sounding about the perils of computer power versus human the mind, computation versus human cognition, computation versus human consciousness, and/or diminution of human attention spans and intellectual creativity caused by computer overuse or over exposure. There is also the putatively spurious authority of Computer Findings, and the undesirable compilation of data for access by questionable vested interests, not to mention the usual mischief-makers who will always be with us in any age or stage, because of our common humanity. All these are part of past, present, and no doubt future arguments about computers/IT, now so ubiquitous, now so securely entrenched in our human midst.
Indeed, whole
generations have now grown up with IT, and these generations
have since reduced the profile of computers to a more everyday
perspective, checks and balances of operation are in place,
life goes on as before, and we should expect even more so. Voodoo electronics has given way to
user-friendly, and novelty has been replaced, in the main, by
everyday acceptance, and healthy skepticism about claims of
omniscience and ubiquity are prevalent. However,
although human existence could continue without computers,
much that is now regarded as our legitimate and laudable
quality of life would be absent, and the boundaries of
research, knowledge and communication would be much
diminished. The pursuit of artificial intelligence has also
enhanced our knowledge of ourselves, and of other biological
entities, as well as aiding understanding of the inanimate
world. For these reasons, there
is widespread respect and gratitude what has been gained by IT
development and subsequent widespread human utilisation.
Still within IT, the
increasing technological convergence, that also enhances the
capabilities of the everyday computer, has since produced the
ever more ubiquitous and alarming mobile phone, which in turn
is calling the peals of tocsins much as its nearest
technological parent, the computer, has done in the past. All that alarming talk about
alienation, damage to the young, EM radiation, wasted time,
and technological over-dependence, etc., is heard once more. But, make no mistake, even the
mobile phone will recede into an everyday and commonsense
perspective in its own turn, and doubtless some other
temporarily alarming technology will, in turn, replace that,
also pending the usual accommodation within everyday human
affairs.
The present
Age of IT is really just another phase of the ongoing
Industrial Revolution, perhaps classifiable as a High-Tech
Sub-Revolution, that is certainly accelerating social,
economic, and resource management changes, as well as aiding
human originated changes wrought upon the world at large. The time is telescoping during which
consequences of human progress manifest themselves, and also
the feedback time required for effective management of these
changes. IT, in the form of the
Internet and ever more accessible news media and facilitated
publishing, has become a means of witnessing, recording, and
educating us all about change, and world consequences, as well
as an accelerator of change.
IT also does help to
make individuals and governments more accountable as plague,
plight, and great discoveries are all very quickly notified to
the rest of the world, and with many varying news/information
perspectives to compare and consider. The Age of the
Computer is the stock description that
acknowledges the changes wrought in recent decades by the use
of IT that can help create an even better world, or just aid
in the committal of even greater errors.
For better or worse, we humans must manage and exploit
this newest resource IT for our betterment, and that of the
world as a whole, while taking account of the affects on human
society and the world around us that have become evident from
its increasing ubiquity and ongoing use.
Indeed, information
feedback, especially relating to resource management, has
never been so ubiquitous, timely, or widespread due to the
computer, the problem that now remains is human apathy or
indifference to the present data and forecasts that out IT
creation has made so easily available to us.
Our standard human nature and our biological reality
remain, and regardless of what bounties our sciences may bring
us, our use of such bounties is a reflection of, or result or
conflict with, our own organic nature. Our
human challenge still remains to know ourselves
well, and then to sensibly manage our own creations, to also
use these creations, directly or indirectly, to enhance our
knowledge of ourselves, and benefit the world at large.
The impact of IT on
different societies has also been influenced by existing
cultures, and although there have been some failures and
repercussions, the benefits are increasingly being experienced
worldwide. The US educational
experience, for example, has been well-publicised in
publications such as The Flickering Mind,
although the social and economic impact will not necessarily
be the same for all other societies utilising IT for
educational purposes. In a
society where time for leisure and leisure pursuits, as well
as a thriving ‘Entertainment Industry’, is a sign of wealth
and technological superiority, infotainment increasingly
powered by convergent IT is bound to have an even greater
effect, including educationally.
An inherent cultural
conflict concerning the value of learning, and the perceived
need for it in that cultural context, is thus inclined to
develop in the minds of susceptible individuals. Even more worrying is the growth of debt that
belongs to those less able to afford the ever-newer and
grander standards of an industry whose cutting edge is so
heavily advertised. Also, the
various service industries that have grown with IT are not
going to encourage optimum technological knowledge being
shared, and expeditiously riding behind a political bandwagon
does bring its own reward. Nor do
the politicians that launch bandwagons always feel responsible
for consequences of decisions, as the next planned
vote-winning move has already displaced the current in
importance.
Although the US may pride itself as a leader in so many ways, the price of that leadership is also to make errors and/or solve problems as an exemplar from which other more tardy sideline observers may learn so expediently. These points, and their consequences, are very well related in The Flickering Mind, but which is not necessarily the standard of what will transpire elsewhere, although there will, of course, be more congruence with those societies who follow more directly the model of contemporary American society. Look around you, and make your own judgement of how IT has affected your own particular society, for better or worse, and especially educationally. Other useful references on this topic include The Information, The Shallows, and The Filter Bubble.
Indeed, a paper could well be written on Computer/IT Use, and Human Attention Span, (in homage to Joseph Weizenbaum..!), that would address, in detail, the adverse affects of quick online trawling without enough detailed thought and analysis of data, with consequent inhibition of 'writing up' language and style, among those that do still engage in this pastime. Plagiarism is also a hazard for those who highlight and copy in bulk, without due attention to source references. Portable computing has also increased the scope of this kind of data-trawling, and the 'always-on' mental state that does not allow time for due reflection , always being aware or, and checking for email and/or texts, are good examples of this. Gaming has the attendant hazards of alternate realities impinging on personal real-world awareness, as well as adrenalin addiction, in those susceptible to this. Health considerations must also be factored into extended computer use, so that time away from the constraints of keyboard use are balanced by occupation of desks and easy-chairs, as well as ambulant thinking, especially in the company of like minds..!
Note that The Filter Bubble infers hazards for general education, as well as for everyday life online, so that data-gathering should always be done with suitable Search Engines, from assorted and reputable sources, including hard-copy, and strive to be as objective as possible. Useful advanced intellectual exercises for truly active and deep-thinking minds..?
Transient low-level mental stimiulii, precluding dedicated and directed thought, with a consequent low-level response, results in the inculcation of shallow thinking and poor attention spans, from an early age, thus inhibiting formal speech and writing development, which should also have preceded learning the particular shorthands of emailing and texting. The observant and proactive parent setting a good example of thinking, learning, reading, writing, and related computer/IT use, is so very important for developing minds, regardless of formal educational input..? The difference between short-term and long-term attention spans should also be taught with any level of education, and, learning of the difference between promoting the passive aspects of brain function, and of higher-level active brain use. An active brain is a well-trained and intellectually nourished brain, that can thus slip easily into detailed thought and analysis when data-gathering is considered sufficiently advanced for this to occur.
Generally, in any
contemporary well-organised, well-endowed, and, democratic
society, children who were always fortunate to be involved
with books, parental examples, good teaching, stable formal
education, and not conditioned to being babysat by
technological infotainment, have incorporated all this new IT,
and moved on to even greater things. Those
without these stabilising influences would always be less
likely to do so. Unfortunately
this usually equates with socioeconomic status, both of
individual or society, and this inevitably places more
responsibility on public education systems, in regard to
access to educational resources whatever they may be, and
technical support as well. In a
smaller world, these factors are increasingly a shared human
responsibility, and must be recognised as such, thus, well
directed aid programs, rather than just well-meant aid, are
necessary to help the developing world share successfully in
the IT cornucopia, especially as this influences education.
Most certainly, and where possible, careful planning, teacher training and quality technical support are required, for successful IT implementation. But there will be one constant from the past that still pertains, and that is those who do not have a secure intellectual grounding in childhood, and ongoing education the pursuit of ideas, will tend to be at a social or economic disadvantage in any age. That is all about human social management, and to reiterate, in our time, computers should not be regarded as some sort of deterministic influence for social decline over which the human race has no control. They have a very useful place in our world, given proper use, especially in an educational setting. How useful though, is, and always will be, up to Us!
Legitimate questions
in The Cult of Information, at the time of
the first edition, 1986, about information being mistaken for
useful knowledge, as expressed by describing a putative Cult
of Information, have not been generally realised, at least
where computers are used sensibly. As
a collector of information that needs to be rendered into
useful knowledge in an educational setting, the humble
photo-copier can still exert a malign influence over the
unwary, and over-use of the computer printer will follow this
precedent if due care is not taken. Once
again, common-sense management is required, and this also
follows when dealing with digital information.
At least speed of data-crunching operation helps with
IT, complemented by useful training in knowledge sifting or
discrimination.
The point is, recording
the source of knowledge these days is ever-more important than
bulk accumulation, and whole-scale reading of files is not no
longer necessary, given digital manipulation skills that are
presently available. Increasing
digitisation of knowledge, as well as improved and digitised
records of access in other media, are important for
maintaining a healthy and balanced world-wide educational
database, and such important advances would not be possible
without IT. These perspectives
must also be along taught with computer familiarity and
proficiency.
Student personal
interaction at well-run educational institutions is also
encouraged using the ubiquity of IT, and is actually enabled
by IT in the case of distance learning. Adults
will
make
their own choice about such interaction, but only a fool would
consider auto-didacticism a foolproof path to a comparative
education in any age! Even
Einstein sought out his peers for consultation and exchange of
ideas, and would doubtless do so to-day using IT, or else
engage in face to face contact just as he did in pre-IT days,
unless you count telephone access and mail of the time! Most significantly, the demise of
libraries, as lamented in The Cult of Information,
has not occurred. To the contrary, they are thriving, and in
enlightened societies are pooling resources and databases, and
have embraces IT as another link in the greater library chain.
The evolution of The
Computer Age has been rapid, and continues to be so, not least
because of the speed of events, and of the changes initiated. The temporal plateaus
that followed the discovery of pencils, pens, and printing
presses, as well as innovations such as railways and air
travel, have not followed the development of IT, and may never
do so. This evolution has been
swift and ongoing, powered by human curiosity, the military,
academia, communications, mass media, universal access, and by
the realisation of the many uses to which IT and its
technological convergence can be put. There
is past, present and future of great significance crammed into
the last 50 years, at least when the time when existing
technology could realistically catch up with the ideas. The transistor really got things
moving, and the rest, as they say, is our mostly contemporary
history, circa 2005, and the pace both of IT development and
of IT learning is not slackening. Keeping
up has, and will continue to be, a test of human intelligence
and accommodation, but the benefits are increasingly obvious.
Recording and assaying
contemporaneous changes and effects, both good and bad, are
not easy, and the true historical perspectives of any era do
not mature for at least 100 years. In
that time, change will continue anyway, some problems will be
solved, others will emerge, and yet more perspectives will
eventuate. Technology is no more
cumulative in destiny than its human creator; Darwinian
principles of evolution apply to both organic and
technological entities, so hard-and-fast predictions of
doomsayers and optimists should be both be regarded with due
caution. Coping and
decision-making in regards to IT, and IT management, are often
made ‘on the fly’ as never before, and this makes social and
intellectual adjustment to computers and IT that much more of
a challenge. Thus, if
humans do claim that their own intelligence potential still
continues to grow, then let us take the best from this latest
technology, and move on, if we say we are so smart and able to
do so. Human flexibility
has at least been responsible for rendering IT as a more
everyday aspect of human society within a generation or so,
thus removing much of the sheer distracting novelty of these
innovations, and this is most important from the point of
ongoing constructive use of IT in education.
Furthermore, when
discussing education in the age of the computer,
bear in mind that we have not changed as far
as actual learning is concerned, our human biology means that
learning is so often heuristic, needs practice, revision, and constant use, to reinforce and maintain. We must literally grow those neural
connections to be involved with information building, and with
understanding and utilising what we learn and know. So, however much our learning
experience is fruitfully enhanced by IT, we should not look to
IT for quick learning fixes because of the bells and whistles. IT will enhance
learning, and strengthen learning associations that are so
important for learning, especially in the less abstract stages
of childhood. But IT
will not remove the need for traditional learning, and
should thus IT be seen as an important aid to learning, not
just as an end in itself. Remember,
there must always be decisions made at any level of human
interaction with computers, as to when actual ad hoc computer
learning is (temporarily) shelved, and actual net productive
use of the computer begins.
But we must still
continue to learn in steps, with revision and practice, as we
have always done, although now we will do so with newer
perspectives of relevance and human interaction, as IT has
become increasingly technologically convergent.
Storage and recall of information is now much easier,
although there are new skills of research, retrieval, and
processing, that are required, including of information
discrimination, even if IT does remove much of the drudgery of
retrieval and presentation. But,
the promise of human intelligence intrinsic in the evolution
of spoken language, enhanced by written language, and further
enhanced by infinite records and speed-of-light retrieval, has
now, more than ever, been realised by allowing ever-greater
scope for applying this intelligence more spontaneously,
increasingly unhindered by mechanical inhibitions. Whether for better or worse is again up to Us,
the capacity to make bigger errors faster is also as likely
as doing beneficial and useful work faster, and this
applies, in general, to what we humans like to call
Progress.
Therefore, fostering
human intelligence by balanced and comparative education must
always be a priority, regardless of technology or standard of
living. Maintain an intellectual
wheel to push against, lest smugness and apathy shape our
lives, so that mere information is not mistaken for ideation,
or beer and circuses do not rule, and lest leadership
inevitably loses accountability. Garbage out is forestalled by limiting the garbage
in, and this is ensured by comparative education. Censorship only narrows and thus
strengthens the garbage flow, and has no history that
recommends its continuation. Children
are
better protected by good example, and an early learning
grounded in a comparative education. These
challenges are always with us, IT potentiates these
challenges, and also must be fully harnessed to counter them,
especially within general education, whether formal or
informal.
With respect to Jean Piaget, and using traditional age-related human
learning skills and stages, school computer education,
supported by parental interest and example, (and with thanks
to Google), could be outlined thus:
1) First principles: IT use as simple, effective, directly
results oriented, and always promoted as just another aspect
of life and learning. Learn
touch-typing! Then:
2) Class
interaction and discussion, early trending away
from the potential solitariness of IT use.
Distance learners and the disabled especially will
benefit from this wider peer interaction that is enabled by
IT.
3) Productivity-oriented program learning, purpose-oriented
self-publishing, and advancing software learning according to
both ability and need-to-know.
4)
More complex steps such as introduction of useful personal
technical IT knowledge, and Internet access, plus Internet
research, downloading, and email.
5) Beginning of a separate learning option for those who would
make IT a special interest or chosen vocation, but still
balanced with other mental and physical activities.
6) Preparation for on-going practical or tertiary computer
skills, with emphasis on quality research, plus data and
information screening skills.
As each stage is reached, there is a cumulative continuation of the preceding stages, as all the learning will remain relevant, even for adults. (Note that Piaget has also influenced computer science and research into artificial intelligence.) Note that initial handwritten notes are also important to aid associative learning!
With self-publishing
and the scope of the Internet, there will also be fewer of
those mute, inglorious Miltons, and greater potential to
ensure comparative education for all by ease of networking,
given a continuing free Internet, of course.
Education without a comparative basis is intellectual
unreality just waiting to be exploited, and computers/IT and
Internet, when well-used, will help to overcome this
limitation. Also, with respect to
Socrates, learning should be supplemented by
individual choices being followed that encourage spontaneous
interest in further learning interaction, and, self-motivated
searching for answers and solutions. The
drawing out of ideas, rather than the stuffing in of
knowledge, is made so much easier and more interesting with
commonsense educational use of IT, along with ongoing peer
interaction.
Teaching and
lecturing, once IT skills are mastered, are also made easier
by data access and presentation, and whole lessons,
syllabuses, lectures, or courses of study, can be made
available at the click of a mouse, when such references are
required. Once again, distance learning is particularly facilitated. Educator familiarity with the
technology will become less as of a problem as some of those
who actually grew up with computers choose a teaching vocation
for themselves. The Google
Internet library initiative further enhances knowledge access
and retrieval, and quality texts are increasingly spawned by
quality documentaries in a way never before possible, via the
Internet and the best of the so-called “mass-media”. Tailored publications are more
easily compiled and updated, and with ever-increasing quality. Internet terminal availability must
be assured, but in an ever-more wired world, as economies and
geography permit, this is becoming more of a universal
reality.
There will be increased
educational scope for disability sufferers
who have been previously disadvantaged by conventional
communication means, and convergent technology renders this
even more so. There will be so
much more scope for, and democratisation of, distance
learning, including face to face time never before
possible, and also through the accessing the universal
database of the Internet. There
will be more instantaneous exchange of information, from
respective locations in real time, where such
communication would have hitherto been difficult or
impossible, such as extreme geographical locations, and Space
itself. Ordinary people can also
scan, digest, derive, and significantly contribute, along side
of the input from daily papers, august Journals, and even
grander upholders of The Greater Traditions of culture!
But, to reiterate, for
education to be truly useful, growing IT embellishments and
technological convergence must never be allowed to degenerate
into distractions that are not a part of real and consistent
learning. Likewise, the sheer
speed of a computer, and facility of its use, should not be
mistaken for overall learning achievement.
Infotainment, posing as reasoned pursuit of ideas, at
best panders to weakly motivated learning.
Thus, the former should not overshadow the latter, and
bells, whistles and gaming are never to be mistaken for
relevant IT knowledge or useful general learning. Because of the
complexity of computers and their programs, always maintain
a perspective as to what is to be learnt in order to produce
useful results. Perhaps
this could be called
The Prime Law of Computer Education?
Despite all this new speed, communication facility, and of late, burgeoning technological convergence, that standard human biological reality means that our learning still must be done as it ever was before, in steps, and in stages, and with practice. Skills to bolster education have never been so important, or so universal, or so prolix, and yet we still retain our human temporal and organic limitations, which mean that human learning should be as economical and productive as possible, and from as early as possible!
A human deprived of sensory and cognitive stimulation soon deteriorates both mentally and physically, because as a species, we are not programmed to hibernate, we only manage to stagnate. Thus, the urge for physically interactive activity and stimulation in young minds and bodies should soon be channelled into the active pursuit of useful ideas, to foster higher order thinking skills, peer interaction, and in our age, this also means fruitful synergy with computers. We are built to learn, especially from an early age, but the traditional education standards and practices still apply, and, as mentioned, Socrates and Piaget Rule, OK! This means drawing out of ideas rather than the stuffing in of knowledge, and as well, with structured learning that keeps pace with, and takes advantage of, sequential human developmental stages. This increasingly includes learning and utilisation of educational technology such as IT.
All other educational theories seem to be derivative of these wise principles, despite the florid language and glossy text-books within which the other theoretical wannabes are couched. The Three R’s must still be learnt by the same age groups at their respective rates, and the newest technology must be geared to accommodate this need. After this, computer higher order thinking and using skills must then be developed, so that the vast potential of those newest communication and learning aids do not become overlooked because of over-emphasis on novelty, infotainment and gaming. These are matters of human concern, and human responsibility. The outcomes of IT development and utilisation are for humans to manage appropriately, becoming part of our intellectual toolkit to be used wisely and well, or suffer the consequences.
If there must be computer games, they should only be of optimal standards for advancing thinking, pursuit of ideas, and developing pattern recognition, as well as basic digital manipulation skills. Pattern recognition is manifest in all levels of terrestrial intelligence, is necessary for survival, and is the foundation of human commonsense, as well as providing impetus for ongoing human learning. Artificial Intelligence is now advancing by utilising pattern recognition for machine learning and commonsense. AI will, and must, evolve as human intelligence has in this respect, because it is impossible to build in the potential scope of knowledge and commonsense, this being infinite for both human and machine. (To reiterate, as above, commonsense here is defined as application of both past experience and/or learning pattern recognition abilities allied with considered decision-making, although this definition may, of course, be open to discussion. In short, valid pattern recognition must be coupled with effective pattern synthesis, or algorithm synthesis in computer terms, to manifest as both real and applied commonsense, for AI, II, or human intelligence development. Note II=Indistinguishable Intelligence.)
Computer usage encourages planning and sequential
learning, problem-solving
and hand-eye skills, human pattern recognition and
independence of expression that is also enabled by easy
editing, and printing, etc., and anyone can become their own
publisher at the press of a button. How
much greater would Tolstoy have been with a word processor? How far-ranging would have been
Darwin’s information base with Google and email?
Ordinary people, including those with disabilities, or
constrained by distance, can now communicate, record, and
contribute knowledge as never before; there is, nowadays, an
exponential rise in the pursuit and exchange of fruitful ideas
and relevant facts that far outweighs the misuse of this new
information exchange medium. But
standard language learning must underpin modern language use,
as this did for Tolstoy and Darwin in their day, and the more
so now as education is supposed to be more and more universal,
and compulsory.
Instead of a gun being
the great leveller, a computer should be seen as a far more
civilised example of such
reasoning about fair play, and in particular a powerful aid to
democratisation of knowledge and communication, especially
since the communication may be two-way for any peer
interaction or Web use for those who wisely desire these
facilities. More than one
verifiable source is always advised, and IT is so useful for
such tracking, including of hard copy reference locations. Comparative education in general is
now more easily obtained, given well-managed educational
institutions, including libraries, and a free and fulsome
Internet. Although there will always be those who would
wilfully refuse this new educational dimension, but with time,
their numbers will continue to dwindle. As
for those who unquestioningly embrace IT, and the mass media
for that matter, (in view of the close relationship with IT),
an ‘idiot box’ can surely be simply defined as that particular
media technology
with
which
any given idiot/idiette is currently interacting?
The richness of the IT-enhanced learning environment now experienced, when relevant, will ensure strong associations and ease of manipulation, these are the greatest advantages of computer use in education, though, of course, more legible and well-edited script is possible as never before, as is self-publishing at the press of a button. So is new IT speed-of-access to thesauruses, spelling and grammar checks, dictionaries, tables, and font that were part of laborious hard-copy production beforehand. Yet more innovations are also present if and when they are needed! Colour, graphic insertion, web pages, PDF, and the list will go on. (Remember, though, that if thy spelling-checker doth offend thee, thou canst turn it off!)
Also of note are the specifically computer-related terms that ‘cross-used’ in everyday speech, often directly borrowed ad hoc from the common lexicon, or neologisms, often grammatically multipurpose as noun, verb, etc., and some with even picturesque connotations. E.g. the coalface and the frontline now can be the interface, there is the importance of being connected, boot has a whole new dimension, as does freeze, multitask, legacy, network, flash, rip, burn, program, startup, plugin, port, serial, hardware, software, readme, install, housekeeping, application, module, handshake, dialup, broadband, text, flame; even BSOD, The Blue Screen of Death, has a common application for describing signs of pending defunctness of more than just ailing computers, and so the list goes on. These are all terms that have grown with, or were specifically derived to serve, a descriptive, active or nominative purpose within IT as a whole, and now, in all their various forms, grammatical purposes, and applications(!), they further continue to enlarge and enrich our collective speech, common culture, and consciousness.
The teaching of
standard language should also emphasise the need to check
precise word meanings, given such easy access to current
digital
or
hardcopy thesauruses, but, approximate or
similar meanings chosen from a convenient selection of words
is likely to be a problem as old as thesauruses anyway. Access to synonyms and antonyms may
need the same facility, and how many people would have used
such specific dictionaries, even before the advent of the
personal computer? This sort of
detail is a matter of educational management, which the
computer should be shown to complement rather than supplant,
as part of early self-expression exercises.
Also, keyboard use should not be enabled to dominate
over speech and handwriting that uses conventional methods to
inculcating early habits of clear speaking and writing.
There is, nowadays,
some irony in that the exactitude required for computer
communication and programming exists along side
increasing use of short-hand speech and digital communication
between humans. Mass advertising
already panders to easy short blurbs, small paragraphs, and
short attention spans, and that also pre-dated computers,
although TV and radio have further refined this type of
message, and increased the frequency of its deployment. The hazard for early learning habits
is greater if IT, (and mass media in general) are the default
baby sitters, which of course, is not the fault of
‘computers’, but of poor early childhood management, and poor
use of such pervasive media if quality programming is not
present.
The
present-day computer is
a word processor, numeric computer, and design aid that is
connected to scanner, printer, AV, camera, and other
peripheral technology. Also it is
a digital IT interface, via the Internet, to infinite external
knowledge resources such as libraries and archives. Plus, the computer is also a very
efficient storage and filing system, if well managed, of
course. The Google initiative to
scan in world libraries now fulfils the best destiny of IT, as
long as humans continue to defend freedom of information, and
of information access, throughout the range of the Internet. Again, our collective responsibility
is to see this defence maintained, especially as regards
education, and for any other form of quality information
access or retrieval.
One obvious early
effect of convergent IT, (and also mass media), on education,
apart from concerns about quality and access of information
and its management, is the continuing consolidation and
maintenance of one standard language for purposes of easy
universal communication. This has
become more prevalent, also building on the universal
communication needs of navigation, air traffic control, trade,
etc., and that world language is, by default, English. (The History of English,
presented by Melvyn Bragg for television, is as good a
summary as any of how this came to be. See
also Useful References. Note
that
English also exists in standard as well as other non-standard
forms, such as regional variations, dialects, and creoles, and
in social, commercial, informal or local uses, as well with as
second or other-language status.)
No value judgements
should be construed from introducing this subject. However, what is relevant here is
that English became dominant because its destiny so often rode
on ever more advanced means of communication that evolved
along with active colonisation and war-induced political
changes, as well as the early development of electronic mass
media in predominantly English speaking localities. Concurrently, within the 20th
Century, the perceived needs of military, educational, and
research institutions helped initiated IT networks, especially
the DARPA- and ARPANET, as reading of any basic history of
computing will reveal. From these
networks, the Internet later developed, and the language
standard was increasingly to become what could sensibly be now
called ‘Panglish’.
The Internet has now
superseded all other media as a driver of this world language
standard, and thus, English is now even more that dominant
world language of affairs and mass media, being the
always-developing original Internet standard language. The alphabet, punctuation and
numerals of English are easy to “program” into communication
units of words and overall syntactical structure, and the
language also lends itself to neologisms, and evolution is
also informally and formally encouraged as a normal language
standard. As one good example,
coined franglais neologisms will be more likely accommodated
in the
Considering
the
sheer number of words and phrases from other languages that
are in common use in Standard English/English, sensitivities
about the use of the dominant language, of the old Empire
Where The Sun Never Set, should surely now be assuaged. Thus,
the fact of, need for, and default presence
of, an existing World Language already familiar to many,
medium-easy to learn, and ever-evolving in its standard form,
should now be equably acknowledged, as we all may now have a
share in, and have use of, this standard language. So, when discussing education in the
age of the computer, English must be invoked and involved,
just as it is for navigation, air traffic control, the UN,
etc. Certainly another linguistic
chore for those who must learn this standard language as well
as their own, or, along with others as necessity demands, but
nevertheless this ensures an easier world within which all and
anyone may linguistically interact.
Nofrillstech’s
Notemaker had the traditional 1950s educational initiation of
early copperplate and grammar drilled in using a dip pen,
later a fountain pen, while concurrently being Imperialised
and taught conventional clock reading. Then
there came the learning of logs and slide rule, later the
handheld calculator, then Officially Decimalization in 1967. Later again there was diligently
learnt utilitarian other-language communication during world
travels, then stumbling somewhat over “Reading Knowledge of..”
at Tertiary level. After which
there came mature-age computer-learning, both of hardware and
software, being the hardest learning task of all, and age had
much to do with that. The
learning sponge is so much stiffer and less absorbent after
youthful years have passed!
So, it was with
something like plain relief, rather than with a feeling of
linguistic superiority, that standard English was already
‘loaded’ so as to make this latter IT learning task so much
easier, computer terms and related literature having made
their debut in the then-emerging universal English! Nowadays, this Notemaker’s
copperplate skills have long been lost, ballpoint is now
ubiquitous, even for signing cheques, grammar does not have
the weight it used to, especially in expedient IT
communication, and digital clocks now reign.
Reading Knowledge also proved very different to the
real life vernacular in question, and, personal decimalisation
will never really be complete, but, despite some lingering
disillusionment about past learning labour lost, one must move
on, there is much that is good and exiting in the new
learning!
However, empathy
with extra other-language learning has been learnt, and
respect is proffered for those who have learned several
languages out of need or geographical location, and in this
case, sincere understanding for those for whom their
muttersprache was, or is, not English! So, if you
must learn this new World Language, for whatever reason, be
they computers, education, international expediency, or
otherwise, please do not judge English just for its colonial
origins, or default spellings and syntax.
But rather, judge English for its general flexibility,
ubiquity, near-common, (with so many other languages),
numerals and/or alphabet, ease of lexical and phrase coining and/or incorporation, and most notably, its
talent for ease of ongoing linguistic evolution.
Most existing languages will have some connection with
English now, and some that are otherwise dormant as well,
either through shared origins, or as borrowings and
derivations. Check English
dictionary word derivations to see for yourself.
Increasing faster
digital communication and ease of data access, that further
catalyses ideas and innovations, characterises the history of
modern computing. Language
interfaces expedited by IT are such an innovation, are now a
standard Internet facility. The
IT language standard is derived from English, regardless of
who interacts with this, but apart from just this IT language standards, if ‘Panglish’ is
not systematically learnt, by choice or
circumstance, increasingly sophisticated translation
interfaces are now tending to democratise language use once
more on the Internet, important for those who feel strongly
about own-language traditions being perpetuated.
Likewise, native English speakers interested in other
languages will find acting on this interest facilitated by IT
and translation interfaces as well as traditional means.
Although English and
other modern majority languages now collectively dominate due
to mass media ubiquity, the Internet, and IT, the power and
facility of IT can be utilised to digitally record and
preserve any major or minor language or
cultural artefacts deemed endangered or otherwise. Thus, the engines of mass media and
IT that have previously threatened minority cultures could
together and likewise so easily save, preserve, and publicise
these particular cultures within the human cultural database,
and this is a matter of our collective responsibility, and
will, to ensure that this is done.
Nevertheless,
new developments of informal grammar, such as easy and convenient Web and mobile
phone typing-friendly and tele-texting styles, and indifferent
upper and lower case use, are unofficially changing the rules
of any Web language usage.
Therefore, in the case of English, unless a standard
English is still taught, in tandem with this new and
ever-growing trend toward streamlined and abbreviated language
form, further babelisation of English will be a problem for
future understanding, and education.
Perhaps a standard Web
and Mobile phone English and grammar could thus be developed,
to take its own place as a standard IT user language, and
formally constituted for the benefit of ongoing universal IT
understanding for all users. Maybe
there
will be t-txt versions of words included the
Oxford? Text jargon lexicons do
exist, but formal and systematic acceptance is yet to
eventuate. Other
language groups may wish to formulate their own standard
streamlined IT shorthand, and that is their prerogative. But, as mentioned, streamlined
standard IT shorthand language versions will need to be
compatible with standard universal translation interfaces such
as exist already for formal languages.
Proliferating
sub-cultural jargon forms also abound that see language
alternation or deviation as a necessary part of emerging group
identity, mass media and AV play a large part in these forms
mixing with existing formal language, younger peer groups
especially embrace jargon formation. This
should not totally displace actual standard language,
especially as they are mostly ephemeral in nature, and
certainly should not displace early formal language teaching. A permanent place for new words in
such publications as the Oxford English Dictionary is not
easily earned, and that should not change.
Increasing use of informal English in written form,
that is supplanting the formal version originally used for
this purpose, is further contributing to confusion. The ever-growing occurrence of the
miss-used written apostrophe is a prime example of over-used
informality. The informal word
use more suited to speech representation breaks the flow of
written language as well. Or,
will the answer then be that it is all a matter of what the
reader is used to?
When in doubt, in the
case of English, anyway, use formal language when writing, and
the very use of apostrophes, correct or otherwise, is
diminished, surely? Anyway,
it is just as easy to type, or less frequently these days, to
write, without abbreviations, is it not?
Also, phoney ‘user-friendly’ informal language should
really remain sub-cultural, and a standard, normally-evolving
Standard English should be maintained to enable trouble-free
universal communication with the world at large.
There are still problems in Standard English with
multiple forms and archaic spellings, but English will
doubtless undergo due ongoing streamlining, for the
convenience of all whom depend on this universal language
medium. Lexical, rather than
grammatical or punctuation changes should pre-dominate,
though, or the language may evolve too fast for the common
good? Scientific and
technological lexicons also continue to expand as part of any
language evolution, and these too must be rendered standard
and useable by all whom would use these terms.
The symbols used by science and technology must also be
maintained as standard and mutually understandable also,
especially as they are being added to so rapidly now as time
goes by.
But on past record, English will continue to grow and evolve, formally and informally, and seems to be particularly well-suited to do so. No doubt, opinions may differ about language, standard or otherwise, in the new Age of IT. Others will certainly have their respective experiences and opinions about informal versus formal language. But, guarding against language babelisation that will hinder communication, whether directly or via a translation interface, is everyone’s responsibility, or much of the advantages of the new digital speed will accordingly be cancelled out by an increasing mutual incoherence. The added burden of formal grammar teaching is not so necessary for native speakers if good language skills are learned early by example, and by peer interaction. It is preferable, surely, to emphasise debating skills that foster deliberate mental preparation and word use as well as overcoming muteness in the face of an audience. Cultures and societies that already have verbal or compositional shrinking violets cannot now just blame ‘the computer’ for this, and must do better with future early language acculturation of their children. Taking refuge in the anonymity of minority peer groups will inhibit language skill formation needed for interaction with the society at large. Again, these are matters of educational management.
It is, furthermore, very interesting to note that computer language and symbol use, in whatever form, is now standard, and, although originally and fortuitously based on English syntax, letters, numbers, and other symbols, these computer languages are now also universal and used by all programmers, regardless of their own native language. Thus, the origin of computer languages is no longer now as important as the fact that any human who uses them for programming is constrained by the computer’s own particular need for exactitude; i.e., however that set of code or instructions is written, or for whatever purpose, there is only right code or wrong code, and definitely no grey code; binary is binding, so to speak!
Computer communication, regardless of form or purpose, is most stringent in its demands, both syntactically and/or logically, and, in the uses of the code; these are new language standards not necessarily hitherto universally observed in everyday human language use, regardless of language base; indeed the origin, development, and implementation of computer language could now be regarded a separate discipline in its own right. A systematic, analytical and logical approach to language use is no longer just a branch of Philosophy, but has been made universally necessary, and is also widely developed and implemented by humans needing new and better standards of communication with their ever-developing and growing digital creations. No small irony in the fact that the standards required for IT communication may induce humans to look to improving the clarity of their own linguistic intra-communication, macro or otherwise!
What you say, and how you say it, are now both most important for any form of communication with, and of course, between, any computer and/or emerging artificial intelligence entity. These standards are also necessarily universal, and, to a perhaps less stringent extent, such standards could also apply to any human world language development if such communication was to be truly effective. Babelisation of language definitely is counter-productive, both between human and computers, between computers, and, between humans themselves; in any of these cases, language standardisation and standards as well are most important for ongoing effective and productive modern communication.
There
are other skills required for optimal education in the age
of the computer, and one very important standard is that of
proficient use of the IT interface input medium that is the
keyboard, so,
learn to touch-type, to save time, edit errors, and
incorporate textual improvements. This
is best undertaken as part of early schooling, when that form
of skill learning will be relatively effortless.
Even as the dictaphone potential of the computer is
being realised, touch-typing should still be learnt for ease
of input in any situation, or to drive cars with standard
transmission as well as automatic drive, for obvious
commonsense reasons. These
reasons also extend to maintaining handwriting standards, as
already noted. QWERTYUIOP seems
to be the default keyboard standard, at least in the West, and
even if not the most ergonomically efficient keyboard
arrangement, at least this is a useable universal standard. Any language that is rendered IT
compatible will have a dedicated keyboard arrangement, and
that is a fact of life! (However,
actual keyboard shapes are a matter of personal choice, and
not so easy to adjust to! QWERYTOIUP
around corners on an ergonomic keyboard is a case in point?)
The ad lib and ad
infinitum editing facility available in your
computer, although a major technical advancement, should carry
a beginner-user warning, in that over-editing can be, and
often is, very easily carried to clarity-threatening and
idea-attenuating extremes. Thus,
the computer beginner should always make use of that very
useful file-copying facility that the computer enables you to
perform back-ups to refer to, at least until personal editing
skill and confidence have grown to optimal proficiency levels.
There is continual
criticism of the computer as facilitating print-copy
over-production, but once again, this is a matter of human
management. However, proofreading
is now so much easier, and the final copy is achieved with
less draft printing and paper-wasting, than the re-writes of
yesteryear. Used paper can be
recycled, and paper itself does not always have to be made
from harvested trees, that is also up to Us,
as is recycling of other computer-related hardware. Also, sheer weight of numbers of
computer users, again a matter of human self-management, will
tend to produce more and more hard copy, however sparingly. Of course, over-printing, especially
for the home computer user, does produces its own penalties of
printer maintenance and consumable recharge.
However, such management details, macro and micro, are
all part of computer-related skills that must be learnt as
part of general education in the age of the computer, along
with programs plus all the other peripheral management
produced by technological convergence.
Nowadays, high
quality of written, graphic, and/or aural presentation,
even with basic desktop publishing, has enhanced student
endeavours at all levels of education. This
humble Notemaker truly regrets not having had a computer, and
attendant skills, when studying at tertiary level as a mature
student 25 years ago, if only because better grades would have
followed more legible textual presentation.
There would have also been more motivation to keep
those old assignments, now long since discarded as being a
reminder of frustrations due to presentation being limited by
flaws of handwriting and editing difficulties.
Also, there was the time expended for results far short
of what could be achieved to-day in the same span using even
basic computer and desk-top publishing facilities. Not to mention wasted paper, and
those white-out dabs decking final copies.
Typing was expensive too, if not undertaken personally,
in those days!
The pictorial glory of new texts published these days is a matter of
wonder, too, such a boon for those requiring clear graphics
and photos, also in actual true colour, plus detailed
3-dimensional graphics, detailed indexes.
There is an easing of that Red Queen chase for new or
updated facts, as IT enables easier digital search for updated
information from many sources via networks or the Internet. Lessons and lectures are downloaded
as needed, and universities can offer online back-up for all
their members, lecturers and students alike, as an extra
precaution against data loss, until further measures are
taken. Thus, research entered
directly and legibly into a laptop at a library table, and
backed up online, is an everyday facility available to anyone
who is able to perform this. All
so much easier and better in these days of IT, and there is
also high-quality AV and other technological convergence this
to supplement this boon. IT also
enables Internet access to even more digital treasures, and
selective printing ensures that parts of this bounty can
extend to transfer to a personal folder for future hard-copy
reference. Annotation is still
quickest and easiest on convenient hard copy!
Libraries will still carry these physical and digital textual
treasures, for those students and other interested parties who
may not have personal copies, and similarly digital access.
Libraries
are thereby ensured of a solid future in the age of computers,
despite the earlier doomsaying! As
well, a library experience may very well lead to a purchase of
a personal copy of a book for enjoyment and convenience. Even
if conventional hard-copy is being replaced by some more
portable IT equivalents, that dedicated central information
repository, the library, and those new and used text
emporiums, for that matter, will all still be required.
Used book stores also
seem to growing in number, especially in University cities, so
along with ongoing publishing and well-stocked libraries, the
future of the traditional book also seems assured, although a
conventional wood paper substitute would be a prudent change
to help maintain their popularity as a consumer item? Paperback printing, especially for
first editions, is becoming more common, which brings down the
price of books, both new and pre-loved, for institutions and
individuals. Indeed, dull would
anyone be who do not get a buzz from the regular frequenting
of libraries and bookshops for their exciting atmosphere of
what was, is, and will be. To be
able to partake of their riches set so enticingly on rows of
colourful shelves, as well as, these days, on those ubiquitous
colourful screens, of course.
To date, there is still nothing like having a portable hardcopy of any chosen notes and texts that one can carry around or ‘leave till later’, especially if this is a personal possession. One can underline choice passages, scribble in the margins of, and curl up with or fall asleep over, this personal hard copy, and otherwise moderately mistreat it without much harm to either party. In addition, a book only needs to be opened, not booted up, to interact with, and is so much more portable, too, for the foreseeable future. Actual books, and printed notes, are not just an extravagance, or a waste of paper, but a necessity of life! Computers have not changed this very human attachment to the written Word, ‘books are making a comeback’ is the frequent catch-cry; binding is now less formal, more utilitarian and resource-aware.
Philosophy of Knowledge in the Age of the Computer: The questions concerned with why we pursue knowledge, and the uses to which we put this knowledge as humans, have not changed. But, the over-riding responsibility of the keeping of knowledge is to protect, conserve, add too, order, organise, and to continue to maintain as accessible and infinitely reproducible, so that others who seek it will have unlimited access to this unaltered, unadulterated, uncensored knowledge, and expeditiously so. This has been made so much easier to undertake and fulfill with the development of IT, this is the great triumph of digitally recorded knowledge, multiple copies in many locations, (all on, or in, some sturdy medium, of course), and infinitely reproducible as required.
The original knowledge
hard copy we still retain, whatever its age or medium, now has
less stress from light, handling, improper storage, and
consequently may rest in peace, except for possible further
improvements in welfare that will come with time. Interference in, or revisionist
treatment of records is rendered less credible when many true
copies in many locations are equally and easily accessible. At a personal level, photos, files,
and databases are so easily maintained in multiple copies, and
in alternative locations, by present optical removable media,
and no doubt there will be other forms of physically-rendered
posterity for universal use in the future.
Program
learning and computer maintenance have already been discussed in A Computer Beginner’s Survival
Factfile, so here only the most
important principles are reiterated. These
principles also apply to any educational activity involving
computer use, viz, identifying what you need to
know for what you want to do with your computer, and
continuing program learning on a need-to-know basis. As well, organise your
computer time so as to optimise the actual productivity
that will be directly derived from synergising with your
machine, and do not overlook computer housekeeping and
security, so that opportunity for educational or other
worthwhile use of your personal or institutional computer is
not compromised!
Note also
that computer management does teach dedicated
and stringent skills of exactitude, despite questions of
grammar and other supposed declining of ‘standards’ often
associated with IT. Try
coding HTML or even learn formal programming if you wish to
test this assertion!
Children will still learn that accuracy and consistency are
necessary for commands and program manipulation, and there are
management standards that cannot be compromised upon,
especially for computer housekeeping and security. Managing computers, if properly
carried out, also means responsibility for operating complex
technology, and in turn needing to employ patience, rational
and logical thinking, and even, at times, intuitive thinking. Computers also require clear and
unequivocal commands to perform their multiple and complex
tasks, thus, developing the faculties of patience and
intuition is also required to complement keyboard skills.
Responsible adult
exemplars are thus very much needed for supervision of
children with computers, both to learn by doing, and also in
relation to gauging quality, and even ethics, of content
studied, especially when Internet interface skills are
required. These skills, both
manual and intellectual, are built on as the young student
matures, and such consolidation is essential for ongoing
education and vocation that requires computer skills. Mature-age IT beginners also have to
learn that there is no compromising on careful and accurate
computer instruction and input! It
is all a matter of relative perspective, surely?
So, emphasis on
suitable literacy skills still subsists in this new age of
computers, but with the added dimension of also being
‘computer literate’. Nowadays,
the particular standards of computer interfacing
literary skills required are just as exacting as those
of copperplate and grammar standards of the past, and now they
open up a far greater educational vista when mastered, given
the contemporaneous possession of standard language skills. Even upper and lower case at times
must be carefully adhered to! Thus,
the reality is that any child without early inculcation of
computer and IT skills will be seriously disadvantaged
throughout their education, or at least until such skills lack
is made good. The
Three R’s + Computers, these are the standards now! This extra learning
requirement means that economies of scale and increasing
returns are thus important factors to consider for ensuring
productive computer use, especially for optimal education
purposes. These important
principles need to be learnt as early as possible by any
computer user, especially by children who can learn so quickly
and easily these necessary standards and mechanics of process,
and will continue to build on them.
Skills
and learning are
always in tandem, each will potentiate the expansion of the
other, and computer learning and use and are a prime example
of this axiom! But still remember
to enrich early learning experience with books and library
environments, if you do have responsibility for educational
experience of children. Books at
home, and familial reading habits, as well as computer
learning with interested adults or parents,
are essential to foster an early habituated pursuit of ideas
that will hold fast and resist less fruitful distractions in
the IT Age. Tertiary learning
habits begin in primary school, and any school should not be
expected to shoulder abdicated parental responsibility for
completing aspects of a well-rounded education that can, and
should, only take place beyond the school gates.
Latest technology alone will not fill the gap,
especially if used merely for entertainment-based
baby-sitting! Constructive use of IT is increasingly a social
as well as personal skill!
Common-sense education in the Age of
Computers is what is required for all children, (and for any
other age-group for that matter), and at any time in our
shared computer-involved future. Pasteur’s
observation
that fortune favours the prepared mind is also true for all
time, and not just for scientists. In
particular, a child’s mind can be equally well prepared for
what life may bring, beginning with the necessary early formal
education in the continuing company of peers, and this
preparedness is in turn initiated, as it always has been, in a
stable and literate home. The
worst has never happened, and the best is yet to come!
For any liberal culture
that favours open-ended development of knowledge and
intelligence, the quality and scope of education, starting at
early childhood, becomes evermore important.
In a future human world that incorporates equal
educational opportunity for all, this will be all taken for
granted, but, as is all too obvious, much still needs to be
done to make such standards and opportunities universal for
many present, and future, children of homo sapiens sapiens. IT will do much to help, when
utilised with a will, in diminishing the sheer scale of the
effort needed to enable such standards and opportunities to be
equitably developed.
Finally, adults, as
belated computer learners, will need perseverance, these
necessary additional physical and intellectual skills will not
be learned and developed so readily as they are by children. But the benefits of improved
personal computer compatibility and synergy will soon become
apparent, whether for self-education or any other worthwhile
form of computer use. As a matter
of fact, adults unfamiliar with computers, who aspire to
computer literacy and competent management, may be well-served
by the company of a commonsense computer-literate child!
A History of the English Language IV Ed., Baugh & Cable, Prentice-Hall 1993, ISBN 0415093791
SmarterFaster Beginning Programming, J. Buyens, Microsoft 2003, ISBN 35617805 (esp. Chapter 1)
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, D. Crystal, CUP 1997, ISBN 0521596556
The Computer & Higher Order Thinking Skills,
Vockel & van
Deusen, Mitchell 1989, ISBN 0075579197, (esp.
Chapter
1
The Cult Of Information, T. Roszak,
The Flickering Mind, T. Oppenheimer, Random House 2003, ISBN 1400060443
The Penguin Concise Dictionary of Computing, ed. D. Pountain, Penguin Books 2003
The Wordsworth Dictionary of
Foreign Words in English, J.
Ayto, Wordsworth Reference 1991, ISBN 1853263443
The Internet Is Not The Answer, A. Keen, Atlantic Books, London 2015, ISBN 9781782393436
Head in the Cloud, W. Poundstone, One World Books, London 2017, ISBN
978-1-78607-115-6
Cyburbia, J. Harkin, Little, Brown, GB, 2009, ISBN978-1-408-70113-3
As defined by the title, these pages just comprise notes concerning education in the age of computers, a file of personal experiences, reflections, and observations that are general in nature, although still intended to be reasonably even-handed and objective. The references listed did raise initially important points, and thus were largely responsible for many comparisons and considerations that followed. The Notes were also based on the personal observations and experiences of someone who felt the need to change and adapt, as a mature-age participant, to learn to use this new Information Technology, and to participate in the still relatively new world of universal digital interconnectedness. As well, this Notemaker has never regretted belated participation, and envies those who actually grew up learning all these IT things so much more readily! Oh well, better late than never? However, the general impression of The Age of the Computer, in 2024, surely is that the worst has not happened, and the best is yet to come?
The general impression of The Age of the Computer, in 2024, surely is that the worst has not happened, and the best is yet to come?
However, the jury is still out re the future of AI and GI, plus, Robotics is also now increasingly involved. Social media subsists as a poor substitute for a real education, and, is infantalising and polarising society. The Dunning-Kruger Effect is is increasingly ubiquitous, the main vector being social media, and, lack of comparative education, in the form of healthy skepticism, especially in regard to information sources and discrimination. Most concerning is the replacement of mentors, by online ‘influencers’, as primary role models, another trend involving social media.
Screen time, and, physical health penalties, inclusive of sight and hearing, plus, social alienation, especially in regards to children and adolescents, all resulting from thoughtless online use, are also increasing. These concerns are well known and documented, and hopefully, checks and balances will continue to evolve, cultural and temporal lags being overcome.
Needless to say, a more formal and universally objective treatise on the wider subject of ‘Education in the Age of the Computer’ would go much so much further in developing the principal ideas and themes noted, and, identifying and pursuing others. Do feel free….!