Aucbvax.2323
fa.works
utzoo!duke!decvax!ucbvax!works
Fri Jul 17 06:41:47 1981
Making paper go away
>From CSD.PRATT@SU-SCORE Fri Jul 17 06:37:01 1981
If paper is more effective, then there is a mismatch
between the needs of the person and the software.
Joe's implication that any mismatch between people and computers
needs to be eliminated is similar to the attitude that gave rise
to the BART fiasco. This zeal to automate everything is misplaced.
Some products already do their job quite well. Paper, for example.
One thing I particularly like about paper is that I can leave
it on the beach while I'm swimming without being too concerned
that someone is likely to walk off with it. Is anyone willing to
predict which century will see portable computers able to compete
with paper as an improbable target of petty thieves?
A more appropriate attitude would be to keep an eye open for
opportunities where the computer can outperform the traditional
product. I suspect this is what Joe really has in mind when
he talks about automating paper. Paper has its disadvantages
as well as its advantages. Pen-and-paper is a poor medium
for speed of text input (many of us type twice as fast as we
write, though presumably not Steven Gutfreund, who says he
prefers mice and chordsets to 4-row QWERTY keyboards). Paper
is inconvenient to transmit, with a delay measured in days
rather than minutes. It is difficult to search associatively.
It does not lend itself to alteration. Making duplicates for
redundancy (e.g. guarding against fire etc.) is awkward.
Text and graphics macros (Letraset, stencils, french curves,
rubber stamps, etc.) are relatively inflexible. Conversion
to machine readable form is much harder than the reverse
direction.
The moral is that while computers outperform paper in some
categories, it is wishful thinking to imagine that it will
also soon come to dominate in all the remaining categories.
Needless to say, the moral applies equally well to other
products besides paper, e.g. BART drivers.
Applying this to AI, I would prefer to characterize AI
not so much in terms of passing Turing's test as looking
for additional human activities that lend themselves to
automation.
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