MovieChat Forums > 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Discussion > How has the public's understanding of co...

How has the public's understanding of computers changed since the 1960s?

posted 7 years ago by Stevicus-2
10 replies | jump to latest

I was reading in another thread (which I didn't want to hijack, so I started a new one) about how HAL's "character" was left intentionally ambiguous in 2001, and one poster compared it with 2010 where the answer is immediately given: HAL was simply a man-made device which malfunctioned. I thought the difference between the two might also reflect a difference in the general public's understanding of computers between the 1960s and 80s - as well as in later decades.

Back in the 60s, computers were generally portrayed as "magical talking boxes," such as in Star Trek, the robot in Lost in Space, "Agnes" from an episode of The Twilight Zone, Colossus, etc. There was a great deal of fear regarding computers, as they were these mysterious things to a lot of people. Terms like "computer error" cropped up a lot, as if to imply that computers were operating independently and automatically, without any human intervention whatsoever.

I must confess that I never really warmed up to the idea of computers or AI "coming to life" and achieving sentience or consciousness. I can see where it might be possible someday - but only if some super-genius programmer made it that way (such as Dr. Noonian Soong). I simply can't imagine it happening all by itself, unless it's in the realm of horror/fantasy like Hitchcock's The Birds or in the movie Christine. We don't know why a car would go on a murdering rampage, but it would have to be attributed to some supernatural force at work - since we know that it wasn't designed that way back at the factory.

Or even Number Five from Short Circuit - struck by a bolt of lightning, implying that he was brought to life through the power of God.

But lately, I've been watching the HBO series Westworld, and they take the approach that the robots are going crazy because a crazy human made them that way - which makes a hell of a lot more sense than movies where they suggest it happens all by itself against what humans intended.

Has the public's understanding and attitude changed over these past decades? Do we still fear computers as these mysterious, magical talking boxes? Don't people understand them a bit more? My computer has never come to life or anything like that.

[–] PolishBear 7 years ago

30 years ago, when people were just starting to talk about the promise of the so-called "information superhighway," they never envisioned all the downsides: "Fake news" websites, cyber-bullying, hacking, malware. They never could have foreseen the fact that all the digital gadgets that were supposed to keep us better connected ARE in fact further isolating us from one another.

CHUCK ANZIULEWICZ
http://www.facebook.com/chuck.anziulewicz

[–] Stevicus-2 7 years ago

30 years ago, when people were just starting to talk about the promise of the so-called "information superhighway," they never envisioned all the downsides: "Fake news" websites, cyber-bullying, hacking, malware. They never could have foreseen the fact that all the digital gadgets that were supposed to keep us better connected ARE in fact further isolating us from one another.

This is so true. I recently came across an article about online dating, and they showed a (staged) picture of a bunch of people in a bar - all with their eyes glued to their phones. No one was talking to each other, even though they were all in the same room. I think that says so much about the culture these days.

[–] tieman64 7 years ago

I must confess that I never really warmed up to the idea of computers or AI "coming to life" and achieving sentience or consciousness.

We have computers and programs that demonstrate types of consciousness. I remember one computer brain which "evolved laziness"; it was given a task to clear a maze of objects, and the brain "decided" it was more efficient to clear all but one object; it "realized" that clearing all objects kept regenerating objects.

I wonder how much "human level consciousness" (if such a thing even exists; much of what passes for "consciousness" is just mechanistic code) depends on reproduction. Maybe machines need to pass on code to successive iterations before they accumulate enough algorithms and excess baggage to accidentally fake something that passes for consciousness. ie - consciousness as accidentally emerging from junk, where this junk is "selected" by evolutionary pressures to preserve reproduction.

I dunno. Nobody knows yet.

I was watching a Werner Herzog documentary, and he has a scene with a blind, deaf, dumb guy who has no language. Herzog films the guy like a sea anemone. He has all the hardware to be "conscious", but just isn't. He's like a jelly fish, flopping stupidly about. So a lot of what "causes" consciouness has to do with an ability to take in masses of information via the senses, and then having access to (or creating) language.

I recently came across an article about online dating, and they showed a (staged) picture of a bunch of people in a bar - all with their eyes glued to their phones.

Almost like they're unconscious. Like clockwork oranges.

[–] raincoatriver 7 years ago

My little computer, my little friend...poems and messages to me he will send...as the world crumbles around us, beyond any mend...my intimate messenger will be here till the end...hallelujah! Amen.

"gonna throw, my raincoat in the river...gonna toss, my umbrella in the sea"...Sammy Turner.

[–] Barbed_Wire_Strawberry 7 years ago

It's a computer...running a space ship. Controlling the oxygen and not killing you at any given second for any given reason.

Quite a conceptual difference from the big bulky computers that simple folk began with.

I think fairly early on, people in the know saw the endless possibilities - and some people remained ignorant and still do.

Raincoat, let us prey.

Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride

[–] raincoatriver 7 years ago

"let us prey"...I'll pray for your safety as you're running down your prey. lol

"gonna throw, my raincoat in the river...gonna toss, my umbrella in the sea"...Sammy Turner.

[–] Barbed_Wire_Strawberry 7 years ago

Prey anything. Pray it ain't so.

Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride

[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 7 years ago

Dramatically.

[–] Satan2016 (23349) 5 years ago

Computers in 1968 were mainframes that filled a room and used punched cards. People knew that.
They weren't interactive. AI and talking computers were the ideas of futurists and Sci Fi authors.

Here is a personal computer from 1967. About $400k in today's dollar.
https://www.vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=594

Here is an AI program from 1966: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA
Lucas was aware of it (THX-1138). I wonder if Asimov knew of it too.

People interact with computers vocally today. Google Assistant and Siri. It took 50 years!

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Watch machine learning by cpg grey on YouTube.