[iDC] The 50-Year Computer
Thomas Slomka
tslomka at buffalo.edu
Wed Oct 1 14:44:26 UTC 2008
Gang
______________________________________
We should consider that a driving force behind the constant change of
computers my have much to do with the plasticity of the computer. The
computer is more about software than hardware. I might argue that the
real problems with computers is the hardware. You will note that the
internet is more and more becoming the place of creation, discovery,
of "computing." Truth be told the internet owes its existence to
trillions of miles of wires and billions of computers "serving" the
network. But I think you would be hard pressed to find any consumer,
user, or producer thinking of the internet as a bunch of boxes.
Listen... I can dig a hole with lots of things: shovels, sticks, my
hands, a tractor, an explosive, a dental pick and a brush. What makes
the hole useful is not what I dug it with but the fact that I have a
hole. The same is true of the computer... what is important is
algorithmic communication not what enables it.
I can still write with a pencil on paper. For some things I still do
as that is the most meaningful medium: a greeting card; a
environmental graphic... but writing an article, grant proposal,
research paper, manifesto in a socialized collaboratory where each
phrase is compared with the writing of other authors who are
interested as much in what I write as they are in what they write --
while I sit at my desk, or on a subway train, or in the park.
Powerful. Very powerful.
I do not buy a computer because I want a pretty, ergonomically
designed, intuitively programmed, piece of modern electronics in my
lap, pushed against my ear, or to tap my finger tips against. I buy a
computer to aid my ability to connect my thinking to your thinking. I
would suggest you do the same.
______________________________________
Thom. Slomka
Director of Digital Library Projects
mailto:tslomka at buffalo.edu
Schedule: http://wings.buffalo.edu/~tslomka
______________________________________
University at Buffalo
Capen Hall Rm 212
Buffalo NY 14260
wings.buffalo.edu/services/etclearn/
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Everything should be made as simple as possible,
but not simpler... Albert Einstein
On Oct 1, 2008, at 4:46 AM, Simon Biggs wrote:
> I have used computers as central to my creative practice for over
> 30 years. In that time computers have changed hugely and how and
> why I use them has also changed radically. Until the mid 1980’s it
> never crossed my mind that I could use a computer for anything else
> but programming and a creative practice based on that. Then Apple
> developed the commercial WIMP environment and I started doing my
> writing, administration and other stuff on this machine. In the
> late 1980’s internet access came along and I started to use it for
> email and shifting data around. The early 1990’s we got the web and
> very quickly I found myself using it for more advanced
> communications and, most importantly, as a production and
> distribution platform for creative work. This conflation of
> computation, networking and communications was a profound change in
> computing and communications. I almost stopped using the postal
> system and my phone use dropped off like a stone.
>
> More recently, with improvements in bandwidth and miniaturisation,
> we have seen the emergence of rich networked interactive media
> distributed across mobile platforms that are geo-locative aware. I
> am just beginning to work with the consequences and creative
> opportunities implicit in these developments and have the feeling
> they will represent a change of equal significance to earlier
> developments in the technology.
>
> Already we watch movies and listen to the radio over the net, using
> a computer. All our music is on our hard drive or iPhone and the
> stereo props up the back door. We shop online and build our
> communities via email lists and SL-like environments. We do all
> this on the move.
>
> I am sorry but I have to disagree with Helen’s observation and
> Pat’s idea of the 50 year computer. Computers have changed
> enormously over the past few decades and how we use them, and they
> use us, has changed too. I want things to go on changing. Change is
> good. It challenges our condition.
>
> Regards
>
> Simon
>
>
> On 1/10/08 00:21, "helen varley jamieson" <helen at creative-
> catalyst.com> wrote:
>
>> i would love a 50-year computer. shopping isn't something i enjoy,
>> & i
>> get really tired of having to compare all the different
>> possibilities to
>> find the "best" deal, when the truth is that most of what i use my
>> computer for hasn't changed in the last 10 years. speed is the main
>> improvement. i'm sure there's a way that any extra bits that were
>> really
>> needed could be plugged in on an external hard drive or something
>> like
>> that. i have a kitchen whizz and an electric drill that i've been
>> happily using for over 20 years & showing no signs of wearing out. my
>> car is 44 years old & i fully expect to be still driving it when
>> it's 50
>> (unless the price of petrol prevents that).
>>
>> i heard an interview on the radio a while back about very cheap power
>> tools; some bright spark had worked out that the "average" person
>> only
>> uses their electric drill for 6 minutes a year (in new zealand),
>> therefore it was only necessary to make a drill that would last
>> for 18
>> minutes of drilling in order to sell it with a 3 year guarantee. if
>> someone used it for more than 18 minutes & the moving parts wore
>> out, it
>> could just be thrown away & replaced, because it was so cheap to make
>> (all the moving parts being only designed to last for such a short
>> time). the interviewer asked what one should do if, for example, you
>> were building a deck and knew that you would need to drill for
>> more than
>> 18 minutes. the answer was, just buy 3 drills - they only cost
>> $15 ...
>>
>> somewhere out there, beside that huge pile of obsolete computers,
>> is a
>> huge pile of worn-out 18-minute drills ...
>>
>> h : (
>>
>> Patrick Lichty wrote:
>> > I find it interesting that introducing such a polemic consistently
>> > creates this sort of response.
>> > Please read closer; note that I say that I have no real
>> expectation of
>> > destroying Intel, but perhaps to create another class of computing,
>> > and shifting the crux of innovation to software craft.
>> >
>> > In addition, I also understand that technodeterminism will
>> remain. I
>> > merely polemically question the real value of what we have done,
>> and
>> > whether other models could be useful.
>> >
>> > I also argue that in many ways (not all), much of computer use
>> since
>> > the 1980's has NOT fundamentally changed, given certain
>> constraints.
>> >
>> > Ned Ludd has not channeled through me, lads. I'm thinking about
>> > sustainability, reduction of toxic production, streamlining of
>> > ubiquitous computation, futurism vs. 30-year old evolitionary
>> trends,
>> > etc. I am not necessarily calling for my slide rule, but perhaps
>> for
>> > my Gibsonian "Sandbenders" computer. While some are thinking
>> that I am
>> > being regressive, I feel that this could be very forward
>> thinking, if
>> > executed in the proper way.
>> >
>> > On another list, someone asked if I were drunk...
>> >
>> > Good, good!
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > *
>> >
>> > Simon Biggs <s.biggs at eca.ac.uk> wrote:
>> >
>> > *
>> >
>> > John is right. Turing’s idea of the universal machine works
>> (as an
>> > idea) in so many contexts because it is both simple and low-
>> tech.
>> >
>> > It could be argued that any socially relevant technology
>> needs to
>> > change constantly, just like the society that produces (and is
>> > enabled by) it. I would cite language as a technology which
>> is an
>> > exemplar of this. It is important that it is fixed enough
>> that we
>> > can share a degree of understanding in its use. However, it is
>> > equally important that it is fluid and motile, allowing for new
>> > formations of signification and community. If it sometimes get
>> > broken or abused as a result of this – well, that’s not so
>> bad. It
>> > is part of change.
>> >
>> > Bill Gates may have argued that operating systems should be
>> like
>> > the interfaces we employ to drive cars (all the same) but
>> one can
>> > just look at this idea in practice (Windows) to see how
>> wrong he was.
>> >
>> > One could argue that it is cars and traffic systems that are
>> > unsustainable in their fixity. I accept that without clear
>> shared
>> > rules, that change with due preparation, our transport systems
>> > would cease to function (one outcome of this would be the
>> use of
>> > less carbon and thus enhanced sustainability) however we
>> have only
>> > had cars and roads, in their current high density/performance
>> > form, for less than one hundred years. That is not a long
>> enough
>> > period of time to evaluate the sustainability of such a fixed
>> > system. In fact, it looks like as a system it will be redundant
>> > before we have that opportunity.
>> >
>> > The 2nd law of thermodynamics may be relevant here...
>> >
>> > Regards
>> >
>> > Simon
>> >
>> >
>> > On 29/9/08 04:38, "John Hopkins" <jhopkins at tech-no-mad.net>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > >The 50-year Computer
>> > >Manifestos for Computational Sustainability, I
>> > >
>> > >I have a proposition to make - when I am ready for my
>> first
>> > mind/body
>> > >transplant in 2058, at age 95, I want to be using the same
>> > computer I am
>> > >today. Upon first look, both may seem outlandish by
>> today's
>> > standards, but
>> >
>> > but this IS techno-determinism in the form of a
>> > 'sustainable-user-centered-design' exercise...
>> >
>> > fingers and toes and perhaps an abacus on the side
>> should do
>> > nicely, or perhaps consider a slip-stick.
>> >
>> > jh
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Simon Biggs
>> > Research Professor
>> > edinburgh college of art
>> > s.biggs at eca.ac.uk
>> > www.eca.ac.uk
>> >
>> > simon at littlepig.org.uk
>> > www.littlepig.org.uk
>> > AIM/Skype: simonbiggsuk
>> >
>> > Edinburgh College of Art (eca) is a charity registered in
>> Scotland, number SC009201
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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>> >
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>
>
>
> Simon Biggs
> Research Professor
> edinburgh college of art
> s.biggs at eca.ac.uk
> www.eca.ac.uk
>
> simon at littlepig.org.uk
> www.littlepig.org.uk
> AIM/Skype: simonbiggsuk
>
> Edinburgh College of Art (eca) is a charity registered in Scotland,
> number SC009201
>
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