Link back to course Welcome...
Last updated: 12/4/03

CIS_Logo.gif (390 bytes)

Agenda for Class 13 on December 2
(Computers, the Internet, and Society only)

This agenda and class are for Computers, the Internet, and Society only.

This file has been changed to show what happened during class. The changes are in red and boldface. See the cartoon below, I.A, I.C.5 and VI.A. Also see the additional handout


Dilbert's take on trading music files

  1. Announcements
    1. The Final Exam will be Tuesday December 16 starting at 6:00 PM
    2. Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) today.
    3. Additions to Final Topics
      1. Describe or define artificial intelligence.
      2. What would be the general effects if artificial intelligence is realized?
      3. Describe how communications technologies could or are changing the nature of human communications
      4. Describe possible effects of the changed nature of human communications.
      5. Describe the balance between open trade and protectionism in international trade as it affects support for globalization.
  2. Reminder of what you should be doing online on a regular basis -- these are part of the grade
    1. Signin, from the lab, only on days for the class(es) you are taking
    2. Weekly course report (if you are taking both classes, a single report will do)
    3. Conference postings (one for eCommerce, two for Computers, the Internet, and Society, three if you are taking both). In order to count towards the requirement, postings should be (a) minimum of five lines and (b) about the course topic(s). What to post about? Here are some possibilities
      1. Quiz and Exam questions. Ask a question, but better yet try answering one. I will respond, and then you know that you can answer it.
      2. Readings. With fewer class meetings, the discussion goes in the computer conference.
      3. Use of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access
    4. Not required, but do it anyway - check your email on at least a weekly basis.
  3. Assignments
    1. Essay B due today
    2. Getting ready for Final - it will be cumulative
  4. Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET)
  5. Internet - issues / Read the news!
    1. Just another technology?
    2. Will there be enough jobs for people?
    3. Permanent underclass?
    4. Racial / ethnic / cultural equality
    5. Invasion of privacy
    6. Relationships between Employees and Employers
    7. Falsifying information and/or the source of information
    8. Intellectual property rights
    9. Pornography and children
    10. Pollution and environmental degradation
    11. Dependence and the potential for disasters
      1. Y2K problem
    12. Artificial Intelligence (new)
  6. Computers and the Internet in the news
    1. As previously noted, the movie industry is determined not to allow massive file trading as in the music industry. One aspect of their efforts is controlling free copies of movies ("Screeners") in connection with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards - the Academy Awards - these are the Oscars, right? At any rate there are lots of other organizations that hold their own movie awards beforehand, such as the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), and for those voting in the Academy Awards themselves. About 50% of these Screeners had shown up on the web, or in duplicate copies, in the hands of relatives or friends, etc. The Academy at first announced that there would be no more Screeners this year. After the uproar, the Academy announced there would be Screeners only for Academy members, not for members of the other organizations such as SAG and LAFCA. The movie industry has pretty much agreed that any restrictions of this type favor large studies Vs independent producers ("Indies") that are often more innovative and creative. Now a group of Indie producers is suing the Academy over this policy. And, in the latest wrinkle, at least one of the Screeners that has been distributed to Academy members (Pieces of April) has shown up on the web. (This relates to Intellectual Property as a social issue.)
    2. The debate over media competition and conglomeration continues.
      1. Round 1. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided during the Summer that existing regulations about the number of competing stations in a media market and the number of different media a single organization could own were too restrictive, and relaxed existing regulations, thus allowing more concentration of ownership. Two examples of the new regulations are that the same company could own a newspaper and broadcast station in the same city, and that a single company could own up to three television stations and eight radio stations in the largest media markets.
      2. Round 2. The US Congress reacted to public opposition to the FCC's action, acting to put the old regulations into law in the omnibus budget resolution. If passed and signed, this would override the earlier FCC action. The omnibus budget bill carries funding for most of the Federal Government - at this point only a few Departments have been funded by the traditional Department-specific bills.
      3. Round 3. With the omnibus bill in conference to resolve differences between the House and Senate, the President acted, saying that he would veto the bill if the old regulations were not removed. The conference committee acted to remove the item from the bill. This would sustain the earlier FCC action.
      4. Round 4. Reinstating the old regulations in Round 2 was done with large affirmative votes in both houses of Congress. Some senators are talking about a filibuster.
      5. Round 5. In the meantime, the court challenges to the original FCC regulations are continuing. Implementation of the regulations is currently blocked by court order.
      6. The argument for the old regulation: To ensure truthful media, competition is required. Since channels are independent (people choose their favorite medium and outlet), media should have several outlets in each major market. Also to ensure competition, one single organization should not own different types of outlets in the same market.
      7. The argument for the relaxation: Convergence means that the different channels, such as newspapers, radio and TV, all form one big competitive pool. This means that, say one newspaper, one radio station, and one TV station now has the same competitive level as, say three radio stations had in the past. Furthermore, cable and broadcast TV are clearly merging, as far as the individual citizen is concerned - they are all just channels on the tuner now - not separate markets as in the past. Finally, competitive levels may actually be higher, with the entry of the Internet. Conglomeration allows more efficient operations, by sharing expenses across units, and also allows higher quality programming.
    3. [The New York Times 11/24/03 Business Section Pg C7] The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released a report on 11/21 saying that developing countries are starting to establish the infrastructure, training and awareness needed for eCommerce. One example is Thailand, which is establishing Internet access points, selling $250 desktop computers and $500 laptops, and wiring schools. From 200 to 2001, the percentage of Thailand's businesses offering foods over the Internet has doubled, to 12%. Countries that have agricultural non-global economies are generally further behind in this trend. For agricultural producers that are connected, the ability to bypass middlemen and go directly to primary processors can mean substantially higher prices and higher pay for workers. Online transactions still are 95% in the developed world.
    4. [New York Times 11/24/03 Business Section Pg C8 and National Public Radio Morning Edition 11/24/03] Online music downloading is blamed for the decline in CD music sales, but the decrease may also be due to too many choices for buyers. There were over 35,000 new music releases last year, so no one can even have an overview of the field. Research has shown that, above something like ten choices, consumers tend to become more dissatisfied with purchases. Consumers prefer clear choices, and a large number of choices blurs distinctions. Some music houses are moving towards private label releases. For example, earlier this year Crate and Barrel tried a set of six CDs recorded by a private label company, and "they flew off the shelves." The world music label Putamayo sells through its own clothing stores, independent gift shops and other such locations, and its sales are also growing. While no one is claiming that such sales are anywhere near the sales of the traditional music stores, these sales are not counted in standard sales reports.
    5. [New York Times 11/28/03 Business Section Pg C1] With the rapidly increasing numbers of cell phones and other portable electronic devices, often with PDA features, there is also growing concern about viruses that attack such devices. Consumers do not appear to be concerned at this point, although service providers are concerned because of the tradition of free repairs in this industry. So far, there have been relatively few incidents, although in 1990 and 1991, customers of the Japanese service provider DoCoMo experienced messages that would lock up their phones and dial the Japanese equivalent of 911.
    6. [New York Times 11/24/03 Business Section Pg C1] By regulation, cell phone customers can now keep their old number when switching services. There has been a rise in cancellations and new subscriptions since this regulation went into effect on 11/24, but no one is sure yet which service providers will end up benefiting. One possibility is that the largest carriers will become even larger, squeezing out mid-size and smaller carriers. Clearly, however, the companies behind the scenes that make this feature possible will benefit. TSI Telecommunications Services, a private company in Tampa, FL, will be handling these changes for five of the six major providers, and will make $3 to $5 per change. TSIs network center will manage the conversation between the old carrier and the new one, to establish who the customer is, and permit and register the transfer. NeuStar Inc oversees the master database that all carriers refer to in routing calls, and will register all of the changes and distribute them to the individual carriers.
    7. [New York Times 11/24/03 Business Section Pg C5] A British company, mylastemail.com charges $10 for its service, which sends an email after it receives a death notice. The email can contain up to 5MB of text, video and photos, and provides printable instructions for survivors on notifying the service. A competing service, LastWishes.com, charges $40 for enrollment plus $5 per year, but in addition can provide instructions about burial and disposition of an estate.
    8. [New York Times 11/10/03 Business Section Pg C1] "Grid computing" is the name for linking many desktop computers together to achieve supercomputer performance. The pharmaceutical company Novartis linked 2,700 desktop computers together using software from United Devices in Texas to create a system it uses for designing new molecules for consideration as medicines. However, experts say that Europe has taken the lead in this approach. The US appears to be handicapped by multiple standards and Europe at this point is benefiting from government leadership. One European initiative is Enabling Grids for E-Science which will link 20,000 computers at 70 institutions. Another is the French National Center for Scientific Research which will connect seven European supercomputers with an optical fiber network. European projects are buying up "dark fiber", fiber optic cable which was laid during the Internet bubble but which is now unused and available at bargain prices. European grid projects are also aimed at building a system for practical use, while American projects are more experimental. American scientists have asked for a role in the Enabling Grids project, but Europeans are asking that the National Science Foundation to contribute financially in return.
    9. [New York Times 11/10/03 Business Section Pg C4] The Linux alternative to Windows received a boost when Novell, Inc announced that it would buy and offer SuSE Linux, generally regarded as the most user-friendly of the Linux "flavors" or varieties. Linux development is Open Source, led worldwide by Linus Torvalds, with participation by thousands of programmers worldwide. Al implementations of Linux share the same core operating system, but different installation and add-on programs.
    10. [Wired Magazine, November 2003, Open Source Everywhere] Linux is an example of Open Source Software, software in which the development is shared openly, and the programs available at no cost. The article gives examples of how the open source philosophy is being applied outside of computer programming. Some examples:
      • Design that Matters and ThinkCycle are volunteer groups that collaborated to develop a $1.25 valve used in saline rehydration during recovery from cholera, as opposed to Western systems that, at up to $2,000 are too expensive to deploy in the third world.
      • Wikipedia, a free open source Internet encyclopedia whose developers claim that multiple reviews increased reliability and expertise.
      • Open Textbook Project which hopes to develop free high-quality textbooks in common curriculum areas.
      • The Doe Network which solves missing persons cases and locating missing crime victims.
      • CAMBIA, the Center for the Application of Molecular Biology to International Agriculture. Founder Richard Jefferson says that commercial focus on patents has slowed progress for everyone, as they try to make progress around or through the thicket of patents. To foster this, CAMBIA developed a database of 300,000 patents, which is free and open to all, and is now a necessary tool for research in biotechnology, used even by the commercial firms filing the patents. Now CAMBIA is working on a non-proprietary approach to developing new genes, that it hopes will be superior to existing methods, while remaining non-proprietary.
      The three ideals of the Open Source movement, according to the article, are:
      • Share the Goal. Locate people who share the goal of the project.
      • Share the Work. Break the project down into smaller steps that can be shared out. It is important to review contributions and accept or reject them, in order to maintain high quality, but all participants must see that the review system is fair and impartial. Those whose work is rejected can redo and resubmit without prejudice, and work on other aspects without prejudice.
      • Share the Result. The resulting project must be shared openly, even among those who only worked on one aspect. Further, everyone is free to use the project for their own purposes, including commercial development and sale. But all improvements must be shared back to the full project for review and inclusion without restriction.
      Open Source is facilitated now by the success of the Linux model and by the wide reach of the Internet.
    11. [New York Times 11/19/03 Arts Section Pg B1] A computer reconstruction of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, shows animations of the vehicle's route, the President's wounds, and witness reports in a TV-like reconstruction.
    12. [New York Times Business Section, 12/1/03 Pg C19] "Malware," the category including all kinds of harmful software, grew by 20% last year. Not only were there more viruses, worms and so forth, but they were more destructive, and they attacked faster. For protection, consumers are advised to have an antivirus program and a firewall, at a minimum. Symantec and McAfee have been listed as suppliers of this in previous agendas; Trend Micro is another, and Computer Associates will soon offer consumer protection packages. In addition, major ISPs are taking additional steps to protect customers. A spokesperson for AOL, Andrew Weinstein, said, "if you only have a high-speed pipe [broadband] you have a high-speed sewage pipe." Government and high-tech companies cooperated this year to found the National Cyber Security Alliance, to educate people about online safety. The group has a web site at www.staysafeonline.info.
    13. [New York Times Business Section, 12/1/03 Pg C19] Wal-Mart has set a deadline of 1/1/05 for its suppliers to use R.F.I.D., or Radio Frequency Identification, on goods they ship to Wal-Mart. These are supposed to be more useful than bar codes because:
      1. They contain more information.
      2. Radio waves can be read through clothing and other materials that block line-of-sight bar codes.
      3. Many R.F.I.D.s can be triggered and read simultaneously.
    14. [New York Times Business Section, 12/1/03 Pg C20] A new type of web application is developing, the social network. One example is Friendster (www.friendster.com) a web site where friends can link other friends, for making new friends or for dating. Visible Path uses similar methods to link sales leads across companies. LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com) sets up referral networks to connect employers and job seekers. Many companies are finding that their customers can find new uses for their products this way. One example is "Blue-Jacking" - using BlueTooth, a short-range wireless communications protocol designed to link peripherals together flexibly. People have started to use BlueTooth-enabled cell phones to pass messages over distances of twenty feet. While these early examples are narrowly focused, participants expect the field to broaden. Some non-computer examples are:
      1. In the 1970s, some cyclists wanted to ride off road. They fastened motorcycle brakes onto balloon-tire bicycles, leading to the development of the mountain bike, which now accounts for more than half of US sales.
      2. Text messaging over cell phones has expanded to the point where, "if you are a teenager in Europe you can't have a social life without cell-phone text messaging," according to Nick Jones in London.
      3. Despite privacy concerns, cell-phones with cameras that can upload or email photos will almost certainly continue to grow, because they offer the possibility of easy sharing of moments.
    15. [New York Times Business Section, 12/1/03 Pg C21] Selling music online is now a viable business, based on the success of Apple's iTunes. However, Apple's profit margins are very small, and the business is expected to be brutal. But consumers can expect even more choice as companies try to boost volume by offering more choices.
    16. [New York Times Business Section, 12/1/03 Pg C22] "Marketers Adjust as Spam Clogs the Arteries of E-Commerce" With public outrage growing against spam, laws have been passed outlawing common spamming practice such as hiding the real source of the email. Expectations are that there will be a few early high-visibility prosecutions. People are using more aggressive anti-spam filters, and legitimate commercial email, from companies that consumers have asked to receive email from, is increasingly not getting delivered. Some major companies have stopped trying to use email to find new customers.
  7. Internet trends
    1. What can we expect from the Internet in the near future?
      1. Continued rapid growth - doubling every year or so
      2. Increased speed - cable modems, Internet 2
      3. More services, e.g. movies
      4. It is not clear that security will be improved, although that could easily be done - there is little demand for it
      5. Decreased costs for connection ("Internet appliances" such as iNet)
      6. Making the web smarter - XML or Extensible Markup Language. This is a system for describing data so that it can be handled as the number ordered or currency, etc. This will mean that web pages can incorporate data types, much like a database. Since this will make the web more useful, it should also make the web even more popular.
      7. Convergence - merging of several functions into one device.
    2. Communications power shifting to the individual
      1. Can more easily choose between stores
      2. Can search for stores
      3. Can send messages to anyone connected to the Internet - also many services to find people
      4. Can easily and cheaply set up a web server to sell, inform, etc. Previously, mass distribution of information required a printing plant and distribution network, or a radio or TV station. For example, setting up a web server can cost $1,000 or less. Setting up a "brick and mortar" communications medium such as a newspaper, a TV station or a radio station costs $1,000,000 or more.
      5. There is no licensing authority.
      6. Some people claim that big business will find a way to take over and control the Internet. This has been tried and so far it has failed. Customers will flee an ISP that does not give full access, for example. Since it is cheap and easy to become a small ISP, if this preference continues, big ISPs will have trouble if they try to restrict access. There are no guarantees, however.
      7. There is no claim here that the Internet is a perfect communications medium for the individual. The claim is only that it gives more power to the individual, compared to earlier forms. This is a relative claim, not an absolute claim.
  8. Information security
    1. Credit cards Vs debit cards over the Internet. You have much more control and protection with a credit card. Your losses are limited, and your credit card company is almost forced to take your side in a dispute with a merchant, since you haven't paid them yet.
    2. Encryption and Certificates. These two technologies make it possible to protect information such as a credit card number while it travels over the Internet, to identify which computer the information comes from, and that it has not been changed during travel, and to identify who the computer actually belongs to. These technologies are not absolutely foolproof, but neither are their IRL equivalents absolutely foolproof either. Security professionals claim that the digital forms are far more secure than their IRL equivalents.
      1. Encryption "scrambles" information before it is put on the Internet, and unscrambles it on the other end. Modern-day encryption systems use a "key" - a digital number - to scramble and unscramble. The length of the key determines how difficult it is to crack the code without having the key. Cracking the code is equivalent to guessing the key. Current standards are 40-bit and 128-bit keys. Cracking a 40-bit key is currently difficult for an ordinary person with a desktop computer. (My son-in-law the computer pro says that the cracker would probably do better with a gun.) 128-bit is the current standard for banking and equivalent information, but such a key was recently cracked by combining something like 100,000 computers for a year during their spare time. Of course, as computers get faster, these tasks will become easier for ordinary people, but each additional bit makes it twice as difficult to crack the code. So security professionals say that it is time to migrate to 512-bit keys. There are two basic forms of key encryption.
        1. Private-key or symmetric encryption. The same key is used to scramble and descramble. The problem is - how does the receiver get the key? If over the ordinary Internet, the key can be intercepted and used to read the message. This is not a secure system.
        2. Public key, asymmetric or public key/private key encryption. These keys come in matched pairs. One is the private key that the individual keeps secure, and the other is the public key that is given out. If either of these keys is used to encrypt a message, only the other can decrypt it. Cracking this system is equivalent to factoring a number with the number of bits of the key length. This is a workable scheme, and is the scheme currently in use. Here are some examples:
          1. You buy a book from Amazon.com. Amazon sends you its public key to encrypt your ordering information with. (Your Browser handles your end of this without your involvement. You can tell this is a secure transaction because the key in the lower-left hand corner, instead of being shown broken as is normal, is whole.) Use of the key is triggered by the method "shttp" (https is a less-common method). You are satisfied because you know that only Amazon's private key can decrypt your credit card number. You can trace Amazon's public key back to a certifying agency which vouches that this is really Amazon. Amazon is satisfied because they know the credit card number was not altered during transmission. The credit card number is decrypted when it arrives, and stored in the decrypted form.
          2. You send a contract via email. You encrypt the contract with your private key. The other party decrypts it with your public key, which guarantees it came from you and was not altered during transmission. The other party can use your public key to identify you, equivalent to a notarized signature.
          3. Both parties to a communication can use both their private keys and public keys, guaranteeing that each is who they say they are.
        3. Digital Certificates are private key/public key pairs that come from a Certificate Authority (CA), which acts like a public notary. The public key contains the public key of the CA, and so tells your correspondent who vouches for your identity. Examples of CAs are Thawte, VeriSign (a subsidiary of Thawte) and Truste.
          Broken key icon BROKENKEY.gif (1633 bytes) and fixed key icon FIXEDKEY.gif (1506 bytes)
          https URL https.gif (4230 bytes)
    3. Most computer security breaches are not due to unauthorized intrusion (cracking or hacking) but to unauthorized use by authorized users. Transmission encryption will not protect against this. Dyson in Release 2.1 writes that we should begin to require on-site encryption also. This would help, but continued commitment and training are also necessary. A lot of unauthorized use comes from human curiosity, such as the desire to see Bill Gates' income tax return, if you work in the IRS, or the curiosity perhaps to see a neighbor's grades if you work at a University.
    4. Identity brokers - see Release 2.1 on data intermediaries (Pg 282 ff)
      1. Dyson writes that individuals are afraid of being exposed to public scrutiny by wholesale breaches of their personal information. On the other hand, the complete opposite, anonymity, has problems also. She makes two points here:
        1. From the point of view of society, complete anonymity permits or at least does not restrain antisocial behavior. She cites the example of Internet communities that virtually destroyed themselves through complete anonymity. Some visibility may keep us close enough to the straight and narrow that society can be functional.
        2. The individual wants some information to be public, since this fosters trust and the ability to make deals, buy goods, trust information, and so on.
      2. Dyson predicts that there will be companies that manage this for you as a paid service, like your credit card company or the credit rating bureaus do. They will guarantee your credit, in the case of the credit card company. Dyson predicts this practice spreading to other areas. You would reveal yourself to you data management company, and in the future they would vouch for your credit, your trustworthiness, your moral character and so on, without revealing the information on which that is based. So you could subscribe for the level of service that you wanted. If the company lied about its ratings of you, it would lose its credibility, which is its source of value. This is a market pressure on the company to be truthful.
  9. Artificial Intelligence (new Issue). What is artificial intelligence? Of course, there are lots of jokes questioning whether humans are intelligent in the first place. But humans are far better at everyday reasoning than computers are. On the other hand, computers are getting better. The human brain has 10 billion nerves and perhaps 100 billion neural circuits. Is this a lot? Of course we don't know whether a  nerve is the equivalent of a bit, or a byte, or something else, but it does not seem that storage capacity could account for the differences between humans and computers all by itself.
    1. Here are some of the hypotheses (guesses) as to why humans are so much better at reasoning:
      1. Even though our "hardware" in the brain, sometimes called "wetware," is much slower, it is different than the Von Neumann architecture like that in the Paper and Pencil computer, and our neurons may be much more efficient at everyday reasoning. Research is going on into the nature of neurons, and people are attempting to build computer systems that act more like the human brain. One example of such systems is the "neural network," a network of interconnected software modules that mimic some aspects of neurons, and can display some characteristics of learning from experience.
      2. Another possibility is that, even if our hardware isn't better, we do many more things at the same time ("multitasking" or "parallel computing") and so out-compute computers this way. Each of our brain's neurons is a processor. Again, computer systems are being constructed that do many more things in parallel.
      3. A third possibility is that, even by the time we are five or six years old, we have an enormous store of background information that helps us make sense of new information, while a computer has to learn everything from ground zero every time it starts a new program. There are attempts to program massive amounts of background information into computers.
      4. The fourth possibility that we will mention here is that the structure of our minds may be more flexible. Basically, we have an unconscious that takes care of many things without our attention, and which may even do some thinking for us, for example during dreams, or before a flash of insight (an aha! experience), and a conscious mind which is self-aware and can direct itself to focus on a situation. It is not clear how to mimic this in a computer, and in fact it is not at all clear today how human consciousness works.
    2. Part of the problem with understanding what artificial intelligence means is that we only have a very general idea of what intelligence itself means. Generally, the most basic definition is an ability to use brain power to adapt to changes in the total environment. By "total environment" we mean not only the biological or living environment, as we normally use the word, but also the effects of our civilization, such as buildings and cars, and the effects of other people (the social and personal environment) but even our own internal environment, our own thoughts and actions. We do have a measure of intelligence, the IQ, and an IQ test, but this is much criticized as not measuring the ability to adapt, but instead the results of having adapted in the past, and to a specific environment, generally a Western white middle-class environment. So aside from this specific meaning (the score on a particular test that may or may not measure what we want it to), we mean the ability to function well in the face of change and incomplete information, to be able to integrate information from a wide variety of sources, to be able to sort through information acquired in the past and to focus relevant facts from the past on the current situation, to learn, and so forth. Are all of these facets related to each other, or are they all independent, and is any one list complete? We don't know. I believe that we will learn all of this and more in the future, but for now we don't know exactly what intelligence itself is.
    3. Historically, we are becoming more demanding before we call something "intelligent." For example, before computing we thought it required intelligence to add. But now that we have $2 calculators that can add, we don't think this is intelligent any more. Similarly, proofreading and outlining functions were originally thought to be intelligent. And now that we have computer systems that act as if they are learning, at least in a simple way, simple learning is not thought to be intelligent. Clearly, we are much more able to deal with conflicting and incomplete information than computers are, and we are much better at learning.
    4. Some commentators argue that computer can never be intelligent, that this is beyond what any device following a program (a list of instructions) can ever be intelligent in the way that humans are. As a skeptical scientist, I have seen many such claims about impossibility turn out to be false. The only real proof in this area would be a computer that actually is intelligent; by this argument, if we do not have an intelligent computer yet, that is just because we haven't learned the right way yet. Even supposing that we never have an intelligent computer, computers can still be very helpful, by doing for us the things that we are not good at, such as following directions exactly.
    5. How would we tell if a computer is intelligent? The usual test is "the Turing test," originated by the English computer scientist Alan Turing. In this test, a computer and a human are put behind a wall, and a human or panel of humans ask questions, which are answered by means of printing on paper or some other means that can be done by both humans and computers. First a question to the human, then one to the computer, etc. This seems like a good test, and is run regularly. It is depressing that even simple computer programs can fool most people. A famous example is the "Eliza" program, which mimics a type of psychotherapy by simply picking out key words and turning the "patient’s" statements into questions, as in
      Person: "I don’t get along with my father."
      Eliza: "Tell me about your father."
    6. The "agent interface" is an example of trying to apply simple intelligence to the interactions between humans and computers. The "Office Assistant" is an example of an agent interface, although since I don't like the Office Assistant (the paper clip guy), I hope that this is an early and crude example.
    7. There is no doubt that even moderate artificial intelligence within a computer would have a major economic and social impact. Computers would be much better at working with humans, and programs with artificial intelligence interfaces would quickly take over the market. Humans would no longer be employable unless they used even higher-level skills, just as machines took over from human muscle, and computers took over from much of the actual execution of accounting and proofreading. So far, I think that technology, while it has created problems no doubt, has also given us much more freedom of choice than we have had before, and it has also allowed our population to soar to the point where we are a massive global threat to other species. Would artificial intelligence be like this, where we would more or less voluntarily adopt it, or would the competition between humans and computers lead to our hating and rejecting computers? Fascinating? Stay tuned and just maybe we'll find out!
    8. Currently, computers have traits that are very much different from those of humans: computers follow directions mindlessly and tirelessly, their memories do not change over time (unless they fail completely), and they are not bored by repetitive tasks. These are all things humans are bad at. Presently, human and computer abilities are complementary, and computers can be a significant help to humans by being good at what humans are bad at.
  10. Effects of shift to individual communication power
    1. New communications technologies give long-range communications capabilities, both broadcast mode and point-to-point, to the ordinary citizen. Communications are easy to use, fast, and low in cost.
      1. Fifty years ago we were much more restricted - limited to a smaller geographical range. Relatively few media for national-level communications.
      2. Now many TV channels, differing points of view
        3. . Many specialized magazines. Radio is specialized. Sometimes called "narrowcasting."
    2. We are now much more free to choose whom we wish to communicate with, and increasingly we communicate with those we agree with. While this gives us more freedom, we should not think that there will be no consequences. Here are some that have been suggested by Alvin Toffler in The Third Wave:
      1. More isolation, less intimate and face-to-face contact. Personal relationships tend increasingly to be mediated by professionals.
      2. Less interest in compromise, less experience in how to compromise. Elected representatives who feel they were elected to advocate a certain point of view, not to understand other points of view and how to compromise. Democratic government has a harder time getting things done.
  11. Quiz 1, Quiz 2 and Final review - Q & A