Comments on: The Human and the Machine

By: Teh dude

Teh dude — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:40:41 +0000

My first and foremost interest in computers was games, of course I’m talking about golden C64 days. After we shifted to PC’s and then when Windows 95 came, one day one my friends who was more interested in hardware told me that Windows changed computers to a media player to people. People don’t appreciate someone who knows how to “work” with computers anymore, they are not afraid to use them, computers are merely helping them in everyday life, rather than actually helping them doing something that was not possible before, like solving something or so.

He was happy when gaming consoles emerged, he was happy that now computers can return to their initial place rather than being a “toy”. I both agree and disagree with him and still think about it, even though he forgot the whole thing for a long time.

While we are at it, let me share something else with you. As you know, I love computers to the bone but the things we get from them is getting so much (and most of them are trivial) that we forget other aspects of our lives. Of course I’m talking about my life mainly and it may occurs to others too. There are very much different aspects in life that we miss by spending more and more time by computers. Maybe the most important thing is not knowing how to assign IP to your door knob so you can open it via your Cell phone, maybe gardening or visiting a relative is much more important.

I have alot to say about this matter and it’s already 0810.

By: MatGill

MatGill — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 06:45:30 +0000

Take your revenge… Kill the Internet!

By: yzt

yzt — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:48:43 +0000

No, I don’t want to trade knowledge for awe. That’s not a way to be, and probably many agree with me too (don’t you?)
And I don’t think my current view (or our current view) towards the machine comes out of knowing more, or even growing up. I think we are using them too much and too easily and getting too used to them. It’s changing the machine full of “magic” to a TV-typewriter! There is nothing interesting that doesn’t happen “in the cloud” and in the machine itself. In short, I think Internet has killed it, at least for me.

By: MatGill

MatGill — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:16:23 +0000

Let’s for a moment forget about the hardware. You see a neat elegant peace of code that makes you go “holy cow”. Who/what are you awing to? Is it the code (the art) or the coder (the artist)?

I remember I once read somewhere that art and the artists are inseparable entities. I certainly didn’t understand that statement, as anything that smells like philosophy makes me vomit. But maybe there is something in there for you.

Now that I think about it, It’s been a while since I last appreciated the code itself rather than the skill of the coder. Maybe it’s just part of growing up.

The good thing, for me, is that I study machine learning, which often times makes you go wow and brings you to your knees. Some of the new stuff are so human-like that they just seem like magic from an outsider point of view. Magic is amusing, but once you master it, it’s only the the magician’s skill that you can appreciate. Maybe it’s better not to learn how things work. Things will look way more entertaining and magical