Working Up

By Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes we need to remind ourselves what it is that computers can and cannot do.

Computers are taking over the world. Well, maybe not. Let’s recall what a computer can do.

A computer can tell if a light bulb is on or off.

That’s about it folks. Nothing more. Everything else is what us folks teach them simple machines to do.

We taught the simple machine to store data and bring it back when we ask. We taught the simple machine how to be a word processor and a spreadsheet. We taught the simple machine to show us pretty pictures and make the pictures move. We taught the simple machine to do all the things that the simple machine does for us.

And one day, we combined the simple machine with a radio and made it into a “smart” telephone. Boy that changed everything. What a good idea. Or was it a good idea? I predict the day when doctors who operate on sore necks and sore wrists and elbows will rule the world.

But I digress from light bulbs to surgeons who will rule the world. (Wait, did I write that correctly?)

Regardless of whom will rule the world, I doubt it will be a computer. That is, unless we teach it how to rule the world. Then again, it doesn’t appear that we have mastered the art of ruling the world. We are still waiting for someone to teach us that one.