It’s funny how things turn out: one night you’re laying in bed with some sort of virus, and then the next morning you’re back to school.  It’s a shame that most of the anti-virus programs designed for computers aren’t as effective as Advil. But to the point at hand, many excellent propositions for project ideas were mentioned in-class and some of the most intriguing ideas dealt with Youtube, performance on the internet (via blogging or some other means), Skype, among others.  

I came up with the idea to become an expert on an E-commerce website such as Half.com or Ebay.com because let’s face it, every college student is dependant on either a job (or their parents) to generate some sort of income for food, recreation, clothing, etc.  I believe the internet provides an incredible oppurtunity for students to make money without having to go through the cumbersome, time-consuming, and expensive process of starting a corporation or even a sole-proprietorship. 

I have a Half.com account (which is owned by Ebay) and making money with them is as easy as signing up for Facebook.com with a few additional, but easy steps (like creating and managing your inventory).  I have never used Ebay because I always felt that it was much more complicated and too time-consuming.  This project will give me a chance (and incentive) to find out more about Ebay, like its history, how it really works, and what are the advantages over Half.com, for example.  It will also give me an oppurtunity to teach others and demonstrate how easy it is to create, maintain, and make money so that my classmates are less dependant on outside sources for their academic survival.

The title of Bush’s “As We May Think” is quite significant.  The history and culture behind the novel concepts that would lead to what we know as a modern computer is summarized in just that one statement.  Influential and open minds were able to dream, or perhaps even predict, the extent to which computers would be an essential and important part of our lives. We find ourselves in the 21st centruy, apporximately 50-60 (or maybe more precsiely, 100 or so) years after these great minds impacted our very way of life.  Because of these great minds, a computer can be found in virtually every household.  Because of these great minds, everyone has access to the internet and an  endless amount of information. Because of these great minds, we are able to store data efficiently and effortlessly in order for the next generation, and generations after that, to take advantage of and build upon our experience and mistakes. Because of these great minds, a majority of people are not skeptics who think that computers are the downfall of mankind, but instead, they know that computers are the key to prosperity, progress, and our very way of life. 

J.C.R Licklider’s article “Man-Computer Symbiosis”  shares insight on the differences between man and machine and how to bridge the gap between them.  He argues that in order for knowledge to grow, we must utilize a tool that will faciliate the growth of knowledge.  One way that would be possible is if we have a symbiotic relationship with computers.  He argues that, “the cooperative interaction would greatly improve the thinking process.”  That is his ideal vision, but he acknowledges that there are setbacks and obstacles, the most significant being our language differences.

It’s interesting for me to observe the difference between languages in real time.  As part of my first year seminar taught by an excellent professor in the computer science department, I have witnessed this blockade between languages.  After entering long, repetitive, and mundane forumalas, my professor was able to create a simple program that would understand and react to inputs very succesfully as long as those inputs were within the confines of the formula.  Going outside of that formula would result in the infamous “error” message that is so negatively, but appropriately, associated with computers.  Thus, it’s very clear that we are far from creating some system that realistically and succesffuly realizes Licklider’s dream; however, even without a perfect man-machine symbiosis, I’d argue that the thinking process has dramatically improved since the 1960s.  

 Has it reached its potential?  To put it in perspective, did the bow and arrow as a weapon reach its potential? Did the rifle? Did the canon? Did the machine gun? Did the Atomic bomb? The short, and somewhat frightening answer is, hell to the no. 

It is oftentimes hard to comprehend and grasp the speed at which technology has progressed throughout recent years to the point where what we take for granted has subconsciously become not only a necessity, but something that our very livelihood depends on. One only needs to remember the blackout that hit New York City in 2003, the largest loss of power in American history. In the dark and powerless city, every cellphone, every laptop, every server, every form of electronic communication had effectively been cut from use. The result was a time of confusion, disarray, and fear in a post-9/11 atmosphere. In those dark hours, a whole city was prone to chaos in the form of riots, murder, looting, and rape. With no power, some feared the worst.  In the most extreme of circumstances, the city was very much susceptible to a nuclear attack where surveillance cameras served as nothing but decorations on street corners and where the NYPD’s electronic communication devices were as useful as a NYU student’s laptop.  Granted, the rest of the country had electricity, and thus it was fairly easy to provide aid to the city that needed it.  However, imagine if the whole country, or worse, the whole planet lost electricity all at once.  To clarify the point, the problem isn’t that we depend so heavily on electricity as the problem of a lack of light can easily be mitigated by a candle (not to ignore that the fact that computers and electricity do go hand-in-hand).  The problem is that we have built our foundation of modern society on a large hardrive that will inevitably crash when we least expect it.  So the question we may want to ask ourselves is, will computers ever take over the planet, or have we already surrendered ourselves to their will?