March 5, 2006

Humanputers

that's the species of the new age. cross between humans and computers. have you ever wondered how similar both things are? one is a creature, while the other the first's creation. sometimes i wonder whether all things created are in the like of the creator? I do believe it says in the bible that god created man in his likeness. and i do believe man created computer in his likeness, even though it doesn't seem so. come to think of it, the gap between humans and computers will be almost non-existent in the coming few years. and i suppose even humans will then be classified into categories, based on their processing powers and execution statistics. even now, you can see many parallels between ppl and computers. for example:

-- the obvious examples of input/output for a human,
-- what Ross calls "interfacing": communication between two humans,
-- people who are only finite automaton as opposed to turing machines: they can understand only one word instructions
-- people who are interpreters as opposed to compilers. what interpreter-like ppl do is just take input from various sources and output the same information in a different language. yappers, blabbers, who don't in actuality do any work, but just get things done by embellishing information. the compiler-kind of ppl are the real workers. they get things done by actually doing them.
-- ppl who have very high processing powers but very low input/output frequencies. "interfacing" problems that is,
-- ppl like me who have only flash memory. very volatile, and flashed clean as soon as the job is finished.
-- ppl who have optical drives for memory. photographic memory that is.
-- computers that hog the bandwidth, like a glutton
-- computers that make do without a cabinet cover or even a decent dusting once in a while.. very much like me who hates to take a bath.
-- computers that are almost always in a loud-speaker mode; full volume in speakers, full volume in audio controllers... much like ppl who always shout. their normal speech itself is a li'l loud.
-- computers that get on with the minimum of resources: < 128 Mb RAM, < 40Gb, < pIII.... kinda minimalist approach...


If this continues i suppose later on there will be other attributes/functions as well that computers absorb from humans, or the other way round too:
-- civil war between computers. Windows machines will refuse to cooperate with non-Windows boxes..
-- humans will have to be fed through an internet pipeline (will IV drugs then be called IN drugs?)
-- ppl are already "wearing" computers. monitor screens so flexible that they can be integrated into fabric for clothing. wireless internet, portable power source (the battery), portable memory drives etc...
-- ppl meeting at a bar for the first time will "open" with questions like "asl?"
-- over-possesive husbands will insist their wives be dressed in burqha+firewall...
-- one will associate values to websites.. saying this one is elegantly dressed, that one is just too cheesy, or that the new ones are really getting spoilt... may be websites will then have to be "disciplined".. not to talk to strange i.p.'s and such....



and maybe, just maybe, computers will teach us obediance and tolerance... or, (god forbid!) learn how to love other computers!!