The Ultimate Machinei

of all man's machines perhaps none has caused him more fear hope or confusion than the computer it has been regarded as everything from a contraption of the devil to a gift of the Angels [Music] they guide spaceships clan war tactics diagnose illness track criminals match couples mate animals fix betting odds [Music] design buildings write poems teach children and have become so much a part of our daily life but man's future and the computer are wedded together yet to some extent this complex machine upon which so much depends has its ancestry in a toy the computer and the music box are related by the type of code they both use in some music boxes this code is contained in a circular disc in which a series of holes have been spaced as the disc revolves tiny prongs on the underside of each hole activate a metal comb creating a musical sound this pattern of holes and no holes represents the two symbol code of most music machines in the liman air a 19th century mechanical organ musical information is coded as holes in a punched card which moves across streams of flowing air a musical sound is heard each time air passes through a hole and enters the organ in the same way information coded on punched cards of a computer moves across flowing currents of electricity which pass through the holes and into the computer [Music] as the pattern of holes determines the melody of the music so the pattern of computer card holes determines the meaning of its message this two symbol or binary code is the basis for the language of the computer each group of holes in a punch card or spots on a magnetic tape represents a number or letter of our language a name written and binary will appear as patterns of holes with each letter of the name represented by one group of holes in the pattern most information used by computers is clerical before computers generations of office workers using hundreds of different types of business machines collected recorded and filed billions of statistics on millions of tons of papers stored in millions of miles of files now computers do most of this work faster more accurately and in far less space [Music] computers are not brains although in some ways they function better than brains they can add subtract multiply and divide and perform millions of calculations a second rarely making a mistake the calculations a man may do in a lifetime a computer could do in 30 minutes the computer program it is the program that is the key to the computers effectiveness and versatility through the program man communicates with the machine [Music] some programs may take years to write and contain millions of instructions although computers are almost infallible man isn't and a program error can lead to anything from a billing mistake to a rocket blowing odds of miles communicating with them at speeds close to the speed of light in an automated oil refinery Computers control the refining process they follow their instructions without the need for human intervention although human supervision is usually maintained as crude oil is refined every step is monitored by sensing devices and gauges which electronically feedback information about what is happening the computer compares the information it receives with the information stored in its program if both agree no changes are made if they disagree the computer signals the processing machines to make adjustments in temperature pressure or flow [Music] many factories are now being designed around computers these machines will be quicker more efficient and have a greater capacity for self control in an era of such machines work as we now know it may well be obsolete as the old world of work dies out a new one is being born in an 18th century New Jersey barn a group of young people called the resistors use computers donated by industry for a variety of things from doing homework to designing components computers are as familiar to them as they may be alien to their parents these young people are aware that in order to succeed in the technological future they must be trained in computer science a number of different types of programs are being developed such as making a graphic face smile or cry when a little girl gets a right or wrong answer in arithmetic while such programming familiarizes children with computers there are far more sophisticated uses to which the machine could be put the classroom of the future may well be the home with its family computer children can learn certain subjects from machines as readily as they can from people and in some cases better computers can offer a great variety of subjects from math to languages they can be programmed to be used by a single person or a group the more advanced users can communicate with it in a program language although some machines use everyday speech one educator has noted that the business of children is thinking and learning and machines may ultimately be a teacher's greatest aid in helping children do both [Music] not only do business and education use the computer but art is finding a place for it as well the application of science to the arts has opened up new possibilities for integrating them the musician who uses a light pan on an electric tablet to plot out his musical composition must see as well [Music] computer music is one example of an active partnership between man and machine both can influence each other at Bell Labs where this computer music is being created the composer is part of the system and acts as a conductor rather than a player the sounds of the orchestra are created by electronic parts activated by signals from the computer [Applause] the same principles hold true for the computer artists who when inspiration strikes no longer runs to his canvas with paint brush but to his computer where he writes a program and ceases art to take the form of information patterns on a machine a personal touch may still be added by the artists wife the mechanical creation of an earlier day the dancing doll represents one of man's persistent dreams to create a machine in his own image until recent times this dream has been realized only in legends such as Frankenstein and in science fiction film his robot is controlled by computer rather than magician it is an attempt to realize one of man's most sophisticated and adventurous ideas the embodiment in a machine of that which we call the mind at the vision laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology a machine has been programmed to see and to move objects its programs contain both technical information and means to draw conclusions an electronic camera serves as the eye and transmits what it observes to the computer using this image and information stored in its memory the computer locates the object in three-dimensional space and displays its analysis on a screen in order to define the pair the computer must draw upon its knowledge of objects and their relationships in the real world the information we take for granted about vision such as light intensities contours corners reflections shapes and size the computer must be given [Music] this information enables the computer to describe the object and instruct the hand to move it in the architecture department of MIT preliminary experiments are underway to programme machines that can interact with man in solving architectural problems one of these experiments involves an electronic bug which scans a map gathers information about its textures and communicates this information to a computer researchers hope that such a machine can eventually survey City areas and help architects to create new urban designs in a related experiment gerbils are placed in an environment in which a machine has been programmed to set blocks in a pattern but the gerbils continually change the pattern setting up new conditions to which the machine must adjust its activity the interaction between the gerbils and the machine continually creates new patterns the ultimate goal of these experiments is to develop machines which can work with man in designing anything from buildings to cities machines which can function as man's partners rather than as his slaves as with all computer operations the key to designing intelligent machines lies in programming in the chess playing machine a computer is programmed with the rules of the game strategies of good play and the goal to win it learns the best moves by using its past experience and strategies of play to analyze a number of different moves and then select one the player can improve the machines ability by revising his program limitations and complexity prevent him from doing for many scientists the computer has become a window on worlds they normally could never see through computer graphics man can visualize his ideas and create accurate models of reality [Music] these models may range from social events such as Wars to physical events such as the behavior of a molecule the computer creates the molecule by translating a mathematical description of it into an image if the model is accurate the scientists can directly test his theories and intuitions with it almost as if he were working with the actual molecule itself [Music] simulation can help scientists study abstract properties of objects a pool game may be the means of studying the laws of physics that govern colliding bodies the pool game is created by translating a series of numbers into geometrical lines that form the ball shape a light pen serves as the cue stick which activates the cue ball the computer plots the collision of the balls and the angle of motion according to the laws of physics it can also eliminate friction so that the balls travel in perpetual motion computers can even simulate a rocket car ride through Einsteins world of relativity here a rocket car would travel at the speed of light the stick like figures on the side of the road represent lampposts they seem to bend as the rocket increases its speed this illusion would actually occur should such a riot ever take place or a man can model the forces of nature he can simulate the motions of water flowing from a dam [Music] it can study the effect of a drop of water on a surface in far greater detail than high-speed photography [Music] you can see what happens to a spacecraft struck by a meteorite [Music] computer simulation gives man an experimental tool he has never had before with it he can design an object from its basic circuits to the finished product and test the result to make sure it works without computers today's space program but wherever man goes computers surround him when he waits for a traffic light FISA Magazine uses a credit card writes a check takes a trip calls the police or carries out any one of a number of tasks computers assist or guide him in what he does everyday automatic control of our environment increases changing the nature of our lives in today's society information is power and many want access to that power every day billions of calculations are being made that will affect the lives of all of us everybody seeks information the police and the military the government and the banks the businessmen and the scientists the educators and the doctors all are collecting any and all information for any and all reasons today privacy is disappearing from our lives from birth to death we're becoming public property some claim that such information banks can help man to create better laws better health better science better cities at a better world others like Ralph Nader warned us that the loss of privacy could bring the loss of freedom since information about any single individual may one day be instantaneously available this could result in a society in which a few men use computers to control the lives of many today everyone is grist for the computer mills whether it will resolve in greater freedom or slavery is still man's choice [Music] and as we enter the computer together perhaps some voices may be heard about the whir of tapes and the clacking of the punch card machines please do not fold spindle or mutilate I am a human being [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you [Music]