Asimov: Will computers control humans in the future?
Uploaded by Admin on Jan 22, 1999
People always tend to seek the easy way out looking for something that would make their lives easier. Machines and tools have given us the ability to do more in less time giving us, at the same time, more comfort. As the technology advances, computers become faster and more powerful. These new machines are enabling us to do more in less time making our lives easier. The increased use of computers in the future, however, might have negative results and impact on our lives. In the novel Nine Tomorrows Isaac Asimov often criticizes our reliance on computers by portraying a futuristic world where computers control humans.
One of the images which Asimov describes in the book is that humans might become too dependent on computers. In one of the stories, Profession, Asimov writes about people being educated by computer programs designed to educate effortlessly a person. According to the Profession story people would no longer read books to learn and improve their knowledge. People would rely on the computers rather than "try to memorize enough to match someone else who knows" (Nine Tomorrows, Profession 55). People would not chose to study, they would only want to be educated by computer tapes. Putting in knowledge would take less time than reading books and memorizing something that would take almost no time using a computer in the futuristic world that Asimov describes. Humans might began to rely on computers and allow them to control themselves by letting computers educate people. Computers would start teaching humans what computers tell them without having any choice of creativity. Computer ould start to control humans' lives and make humans become too dependent on the computers.
Another point that is criticized by Asimov is the fact that people might take their knowledge for granted allowing computers to take over and control their lives. In a story called The Feeling of Power, Asimov portrays how people started using computers to do even simple mathematical calculations. Over a long period of time people became so reliable on computers that they forgot the simplest multiplication and division rules. If someone wanted to calculate an answer they would simply use their pocket computer to do that (The Feeling of Power 77). People became too independent from the start making them forget what they have learned in the past. People in the story The Feeling of Power would take for granted what they have...