Chapter IX: Part 9
Dr. Fein makes an excellent case for the usefulness of the science of synnoetics; the main point of challenge to his paper might be that its date is too conservatively distant. Of interest to us here is the idea of man and machine working in harmony for the good of both.
Another paper, “The Coming Technological Society,” presented by Dr. Simon Ramo at the University of California at Los Angeles, May 1, 1961, also discusses the possible results of man-machine cooperation during the remainder of the twentieth century. He lists more than a dozen specific and important applications for intellectronics in the decades immediately ahead of us. Law, medicine, engineering, libraries, money, and banking are among these. Pointing out that man is as unsuited for “putting little marks on pieces of paper” as he was for building pyramids with his own muscles, he suggests that our thumbprints and electronic scanners will take care of all accounting. Tongue in cheek, he does say that there will continue to be risks associated with life; for instance, a transistor burning out in Kansas City may accidentally wipe out someone’s fortune in Philadelphia.
The making of reservations is onerous busywork man should not have to waste his valuable time on, and the control of moving things too is better left to the machine for the different reason that man’s unaided brain cannot cope with complex and high-speed traffic arteries, be they in space or on Los Angeles freeways. Business and military management will continue to be aided by the electronic machine.
But beyond all these benefits are those more important ones to our brains, our society, and culture. Teaching machines, says Dr. Ramo, can make education ten times more effective, thus increasing our intellect. And this improved intellect, multiplied by the electronic machine into intellectronic brainpower, is the secret of success in the world ahead. Instead of an automated, robotlike regimented world that some predict, Ramo sees greater democracy resulting. Using the thumbprint again, and the speed of electronics, government of our country will be truly by the people as they make their feelings known daily if necessary.
Intellectronic legislation will extend beyond a single country’s boundaries in international cooperation. It will smash the language and communication barriers. It will permit and implement not only global prediction of weather, but global control as well. Because of the rapid handling of vast amounts of information, man can form more accurate and more logical concepts that will lead to better relations throughout the world. Summing up, Dr. Ramo points out that intellectronics benefits not only the technical man but social man as well:
The real bottleneck to progress, to a safe, orderly, and happy transition to the coming technological age, lies in the severe disparity between scientific and sociological advance. Having discussed technology, with emphasis on the future extension of man’s intellect, we should ask: Will intellectronics aid in removing the imbalance? Will technology, properly used, make possible a correction of the very imbalance which causes technology to be in the lead? I believe that the challenging intellectual task of accelerating social progress is for the human mind and not his less intellectual partner. But perhaps there is hope. If the machines do more of the routine, everyday, intellectual tasks and insure the success of the material operation of the world, man’s work will be elevated to the higher mental domains. He will have the time, the intellectual stature, and hence the inclination to solve the world’s social problems. We must believe he has the capability.
_Thompson Ramo Wooldridge, Inc._
Information in many forms can be displayed with “polymorphic”
data-processing systems.
]
Antedating synnoetics and intellectronics is another idea of such a relationship. In his book _The World, The Flesh and the Devil_, J. D. Bernal considers man’s replacement of various of his body’s parts with mechanical substitutes until the only organic remains would be his brain. This is a sort of wrong-end-to synnoetics, but in 1929 when the book was published there was already plenty of raw material for such a notion. Wooden legs and hooks or claws for hands, metal plates for bone material, for example; and the artificial heart already being developed. More recently we have seen the artificial kidney used, along with other organs. We have also added electronic gear to our organic components, for example the “pacemaker” implanted in many laggard hearts to keep them beating in proper cadence, plastic plumbing, and the like. There is a word for this sort of part-organic, part-mechanical man: the name “cyborg” for cybernetic organism was proposed by two New York doctors. Their technical definition of cyborg is “an exogenously extended organizational complex functioning as a homeostatic system.” There is of course strong precedent in nature for the idea of such a beneficial combination: symbiosis, the co-existence or close union of two dissimilar organisms. The shark and his buddy, the pilot fish, are examples; as are man and the many parasites to which he is host.
The idea of man being part of machine harks back to youthful rides in soapbox racers, and later experiences driving cars or flying aircraft. The pilot who flew “by the seat of his pants” in the early days easily felt himself part of the machine. As planes—and cars—grew bigger and more complex, this “one-manship” became more remote and harder to identify. The jet transport pilot may well have the feeling of handling a train when he applies force to his controls and must wait for it to be amplified through a servo system and finally act on the air stream. In the space age the man-machine combination not only survives but also flourishes. Arthur C. Clarke writes in a science-fiction story of a legless space man who serves well and happily in the weightlessness of his orbiting satellite station.
We have two stages of development, then, not necessarily sequential: man working with the machine and man as part of the machine. Several writers have suggested a third stage in which the machine gradually supplants the weaker human being much as other forms eased out the dinosaur of old. William O. Stapledon’s book, _Last and First Men_, describes immortal and literal giant brains. Many writers believe that these “brains” will not be man’s, but those of the machine, since frail humanity cannot survive in its increasingly hostile environment.
Arthur C. Clarke is most articulate in describing what he calls the evolutionary cycle from man to machine. As the discovery of tools by pre-man created man, so man’s invention of thinking machines set about the workings that will make _him_ extinct. Clarke theorizes that this breakthrough by man may well be his last, and that his machines will “think” him off the face of the earth!
_Hughes Aircraft Company_
Withstanding underwater pressures, at depths too great for human
divers, a Mobot vehicle demonstrates in this artist’s concept how it
can perform salvage and rescue operations at the bottom of the
ocean.
]
As we move into a technology that embraces communication at a distance of millions of miles, survival under death-dealing radiation, and travel at fantastic speeds, man’s natural equipment falters and he must rely on the machine both as muscle and brain. Intelligence arose from life but does not necessarily need life, in the sense we think of it, to continue. Thus the extension of man’s intellect by electronics as hailed by Dr. Ramo will lead ultimately to our extinction.
Clarke feels that the man-machine partnership we have entered, while mutually benevolent, is doomed to instability and that man with his human shortcomings will fall by the wayside, perhaps in space, which may well be the machine’s true medium. What will remain will be the intelligent machine, reduced as time goes on to “pure” intelligence free to roam where it will and do what it wants, a matterless state of affairs that even Clarke modestly disclaims the imagination to speculate upon.
Before writing man off as a lost cause, we should investigate a strong argument against such a take-over by the machine. Man stands apart from other creatures in his consciousness of himself. He alone seems to have the ability to ponder his fate, to reflect, and to write books about his thoughts and dreams. Lesser animals apparently take what comes, do what they have to do, and get through this life with a minimum of changing their environment and themselves. Thus far the machines man has built do not seem to be conscious of themselves. While “rational beings,” perhaps, they do not have the “ability to laugh” or otherwise show conscious awareness of their fate. A term applied to primitive mechanical beings is “plugsuckers.” They learn to seek out a wall socket or other form of energy and nourish themselves much as animals must do. Just where man himself switched from plugsucking and began to rewire his own world is a fuzzy demarcation, but he seems to have accomplished this.
Consciousness is subjective in the extreme, and thus far only in fiction have computers paused to reflect and consider what they have done and its effect on them. However, the machine-builder, if not yet the machine itself, is aware of this consciousness problem. The Hoffman Electronics Corporation recently published an advertisement in the form of a science-fiction story by A. E. Van Vogt. The hero is a defense vehicle, patrolling the Pacific more effectively because it thinks it is king of the Philippine Deep. Its name is Itself, and it has a built-in alter ego. Hoffman admits it has not produced a real Itself—yet, but points out calmly that the company’s business _is_ the conversion of scientific fiction to scientific fact.
It has been suggested that mechanical consciousness may evolve when the computer begins to reproduce itself, a startling conception blessed in theory by logicians and mathematicians, as well as philosophers. A crude self-replicating model has been built by scientists—a toy train that reproduces itself by coupling together the proper cars to copy the parent train, a whimsical reflection of Samuel Butler’s baby engines playing about the roundhouse door.
Self-reproducing machines may depend on a basic “cell” containing a blueprint of what it should look like when complete, which simply hunts around for the proper parts and assembles itself. In the process it may even make an improvement or two. Having finished, it will make a carbon copy of its blueprint and start another “baby” machine on the way. Writers on this subject—some under the guise of science-fiction—wonder at what point the _machines_ will begin to wonder about how _they_ came to be. Will they produce philosophic or religious literature, or will this step in evolution prove that consciousness was a bad mutation, like seven fingers or three heads, and drop it from the list of instructions?
Clarke admits that the take-over by the machines is centuries off; meantime we can enjoy a golden age of intellectronic partnership with the machine. Linus Pauling, pointing out that knowledge of molecular structure has taken away the mystery of life, hopes that a “molecular theory of thinking” will be developed and so improve man that he may remake his thoughts and his world. Mathematician John Williams believes that existing human intelligence can preserve its distinction only by withdrawing from competition with the machine and defining human intelligence rigorously enough to exclude that of the machines. He suggests using the computer not just for a molecular theory of thinking, but also in the science of genetics to _design_ our children!
Whatever lies ahead, it seems obvious that one of the most important things the computer can help us think about is the computer itself. It is a big part of our future.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Index
Abacus, 5, 21, 22, 60, 85, 129, 178, 181
Abstracting computer, 245, 248
Accuracy
analog computer, 82
digital computer, 87
Ackerman, 110
ADAM computer, 258
Adaptive principle, 205
Adders, 107, 108, 115
Adding machine, 129
Addition, computer, 106
Address, computer, 63
Advertising, use of computer, 180
AID, 183, 184
AIEE, 254
Aiken, 46
Air Force, 6, 132, 133, 151, 160, 182, 225
Airborne computer, 90, 154, 158, 162
AiResearch Mfg. Co., 69
Airline reservations, computer, 58, 183, 184
Algebra, Boolean, 8, 110, 119
Alpha rhythm, 126
Alphanumeric code, 104
American Premium Systems, Inc., 175
Analog computer, 21, 45, 72, 74, 80, 125, 203
direct, 76, 79
direct-current, 76
discrete, 80
indirect, 76, 79
mechanical differential analyzer, 76
scaling, 76
Analytical engine, 36, 37
AND gate, 112, 113, 117, 119
Antikythera computer, 25
Apollo computer, 182
space vehicle, 169
Applications, digital computer, 92
_A priori_ concept, 126, 135
APT computer, 209
Aquinas, St. Thomas, 235
Arabic numbers, 23
Archytas, 25
Arithmetic unit, computer, 51, 60
Aristotle, 26
Aristotelian logic, 109
_Arizona Journal_, 179
Army, U. S., 21, 78, 146, 259
_Ars Magna_, 28, 29
ARTOC, 157
Artron, 136
Ashby, W. Ross, 51, 124, 128, 251
ASC computer, 155
Associated Press computer system, 177
Asynchronous computer, 255
Athena computer, 52
Atlas missile, 4, 168
Atlas-Centaur missile, 169
Atomic Energy Commission, U. S., 149
Automatic
control, 80, 203
pilot, 203
Automation, 26, 80, 173, 181, 201, 202, 203, 211, 217
Automaton, 26
Auto-parking, use of computer, 178
Autonetics, 207
AUTOPROMPT computer, 210
AUTOTAG, 156
AutoTutor teaching machine, 213, 225
B-29, 45, 77, 82
Babbage, 5, 35, 37, 41, 51
Babylonian arithmetic, 23
Ballistic computer, 83
Banking, 1, 172, 173
Bar Association, American, 152, 249
Battelle Memorial Institute, 195
Batten, Barton, Durstine, & Osborn, 180
Bell Telephone Laboratories, 4, 147, 241
Bendix Corp., 182, 190, 218
Bendix G-15 computer, 183, 188
Bernal, J. D., 264
Bernstein, Alex, 141
Bettelheim, Bruno, 144
BIAX memory units, 10
Bierce, Ambrose, 43, 121
BINAC computer, 7, 47
Binary, 98
digit, 55, 104
notation, 101, 103
pure, 102, 104
system, 85, 97, 99
variables, 114
Bionics, 7, 132, 135, 255
BIRDIE, 259
Birds, counting, 18
Bit, 55, 104
“Black box” concept, 50, 115
BLADES system, 191
Block diagram, 58
BMEWS, 159
Boeing Airplane Co., 186
Boltzmann equation, 158
Bomarc missile, 186
_Book of Contemplation_, 27
Book of Knowledge, 6, 226
Boole, George, 38, 110
Boolean algebra, 38, 110, 119
Bradbury, Ray, 153, 257
_Brain_, 121
Brain
computer, 128, 129, 130
human, 87, 125, 128
BRAINIAC computer, 88, 117
Britton, Lionel, 121
Buffer
computer, 55
lexical, 238
Buildings, automation of, 217
Burack, Benjamin, 44
Bureau of Mines, U. S., 189
Bureau of Ships, U. S., 255
Burke, Edmund, 32
Burkhart, William, 45
Bush, Vannevar, 13, 45, 76
Business, computer in, 171
Business management, use of computer, 12, 143
Butler, Samuel, 32, 33, 121, 252, 268
CALCULO computer, 75
_Calculus Ratiocinator_, 109
Calendars as computers, 24
California Institute of Technology, 169
Cancer Society, American, 193
_Candide_, 30
Capek, Karel, 43, 121, 215
Caplin, Mortimer, 150
Carroll, Lewis, 38, 118
CDC 1604 computer, 165
Celanese Corp. of America, 207
Celestial simulator, 85
Census, 41
Census Bureau, U. S., 149
Chain circuit, 127
_Characteristica Universalis_, 109
Charactron tube, 66
Checkers (game), 8, 143
Checking, computer, 60
Checkout computer, 183
Chemical Corp., 249
Chess, 8, 9, 16, 35, 99, 142, 156
Circuit
chain, 127
delay-line, 63
flip-flop, 63, 115
molecular, 9, 253
printed, 62
reverberation, 128
Clapp, Verner, 248
Clarke, Arthur C., 265
CLASS teaching machine system, 226-228
Clock, 20, 24, 56, 85
COBOL language, 234
Code, computer
binary-coded decimal, 103, 106
binary-octal, 106
economy, 106
excess-3, 105, 114
“Gray,” 106
reflected binary, 106
self-checking, 105
Color computer, 4
_Commercial Art_, 175
Commission on Professional and Hospital Activity, 194
Communication, use of computers, 179
Computer
ADAM, 258
addition, 106
airborne, 90, 154, 158, 162
analog, 21, 45, 72, 74, 80, 125, 203
direct, 76, 79
direct-current, 76
discrete, 80
indirect, 76, 79
mechanical differential analyzer, 76
scaling, 76
Antikythera, 25
Apollo, 182
space vehicle, 169
applications, digital, 92
ASCC, 155
asynchronous, 255
Athena, 52
ballistic, 83
Bendix G-15, 183, 188
BINAC, 7, 47
BRAINIAC, 88, 117
CALCULO, 75
CLASS, 226-228
code, binary-coded decimal, 103, 106
color, 4
definition, 129
dictionary, 49, 50
difference engine, 5, 35
digital, 18, 45, 73, 84, 125, 203
division, 107
do-it-yourself, 75, 88, 117, 147
electrical-analog, 75
electronic, 1, 46, 122, 151
ENIAC, 7, 40, 46, 85, 215
ERMA, 173
family tree, 86
FINDER system, 161
flow chart, 58, 59
GE 210, 172
GE 225, 245
general-purpose, 54, 81, 191
gigacycle, 254
“Hand,” 132, 214, 215
household, 15, 257
hybrid, 80, 84, 92
ILLIAC, 197
input, 51, 54, 125
JOHNNIAC, 11, 47, 129, 140, 142
language, 233
LARC, 47, 162, 191
LGP-30, 198
limitations, 89
MANIAC, 47, 156, 165
Memex, 13
mill, 38, 51, 60
MIPS, 159
MOBIDIC, 157
MUSE, 48
music, 11, 92, 196, 257
on-line, 81, 205
on-stream, 83, 207
output, 51, 65, 125
parts, 50, 52, 53
problem-solving, 140, 143
Psychological Matrix Rotation, 78, 94
Q-5, 77
RAMAC, 150, 151, 198, 199
Range Keeper Mark I, 42
RAYDAC, 260
RCA 501, 151
“real-time,” 78, 168, 202, 205
RECOMP, 47
revolution, 251
Sabre, 183
SAGE, 3, 12, 37, 53, 158, 159, 226, 259
sequential, 126
“Shoebox,” 242
“software,” 54
spaceborne, 167
special-purpose, 79
SSEC, 155, 156
Stone Age, 21
store, 36, 62
STRETCH, 47, 48
subtraction, 106
testing, 117
UNIVAC, 47, 149, 151, 171, 221
VIDIAC, character-generator, 242
Zuse L23, 199
Computer Control Co., 260
Conjunctive operation, 37, 51, 110
Consciousness, 144, 145, 267
Continuous analog computer, 80
Continuous digital computer, 80
Continuous quantity, 73
Control, computer, 51, 56
Control Data Corp., 194
Conversion
analog-to-digital, 74
digital-to-analog, 74
Converters, 94
Cook, William W., 29
Copland, Aaron, 11, 196
Cornell Medical College, 123
Cornell University, 133
Corrigan Communications, 231
Council on Library Resources, 248
Counting
Australian, 20
birds, 18
boards, 20
digital, 84
machines, 20
man, 19
modulo-, 97, 101
Credit card, 13, 256
Cryogenics, 70
components, 63
Cryotron, 9, 88, 141, 254, 255
Cybertron, 135, 139
Cyborg, 265
Daedalus, 18
Darwin, Charles, 32, 137, 252
Data
link, 14, 185, 256
logger, 205
processing, 22, 171, 264
recording media, 57
Daystrom, Inc., 211
Dead Sea Scrolls, 235
Decimal system, 19
Decision-making, 91
Defense, use of computer, 259
Delay-line circuit, 63
DeMorgan, Augustus, 38, 110, 115
Department of Commerce, U. S., 149, 221
Department of Defense, U. S., 148, 234
Design, use of computer, 14, 172, 186, 268
Desk calculator, 51
Diagnostic use of computer, 194
Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratory, U. S. Army, 69
Dictionary, computer, 49, 50
DIDAK teaching machine, 224
Difference engine, 5, 35
Digiflex trainer, 225
Digital computer, 18, 45, 73, 84, 125, 203
Digital differential analyzer, 94
Digitronics, 236
Discrete quantity, 73
Disjunctive operation, 110
Division, computer, 107
Dodgson, Charles L., 38
Do-it-yourself computer, 75, 88, 117, 147
Douglas Aircraft Co., 65
Dow Chemical Corp., 208
Du Pont Corp., 208
Dunsany, Lord, 108
Eccles-Jordan circuit, 47
Eckert, J. Presper, 47, 85
EDGE computer system, 185
Education, use of computers, 219
_Elan vital_, 127
Election, use of computers, 150
Electric Questionnaire, 133
Electric utilities, use of computers, 93, 208
Electrical-analog computer, 75
Electrical logic machine, 44
Electronic computers, 1, 46, 122, 151
Elephant, compared with computer, 56
Encyclopedia Britannica, 6, 226
ENIAC computer, 7, 40, 46, 85, 215
_Erewhon_, 32, 121
ERMA computer, 173
Ernst, Heinrich, 132, 215
Euler, 142, 143, 163
EURATOM, 158
Family tree, computer, 86
Farnsworth Car Pool logic problem, 116, 118
Farrington Electronics, Inc., 240
Federal Aviation Authority, 149, 161
Federal Government, 148
Feedback principle, 36, 204
Fein, Louis, 260
Fermat’s theorem, 56
Ferranti, Ltd., 182
Ferrite cores, 9, 63, 131, 253
FIELDATA computer family, 157
FINDER computer system, 161
Finn, James D., 224
Flexibility of digital computer, 89
Flight simulator, 83
Flip-flop
circuit, 47, 63, 115
fluid, 70
Floating-point arithmetic, 108
Flow chart, computer, 58, 59
Flyball governor, 36, 203
Fluid computer, 70
Food Machinery Corp., 249
Ford Instrument Co., 42
Forrester, J. W., 199
_Fortune_, 245
_Frankenstein_, 42, 212
Freed, Roy, 152
Free learning, 7
Freight trains controlled by computer, 211
Game-playing, 8, 12, 143
Gaming theory, 92
Gardner, Martin, 140
GE 210 computer, 172
GE 225 computer, 245
General Dynamics Corp., 169, 183, 256
General Electric Co., 10, 45, 67, 76, 77, 79, 171, 172, 240
General Motors Corp., 218
General Precision, Inc., 69
General-purpose computer, 81, 85, 191
_Gestalt_ principle, 241
_Giant Brain_, 121
Gigacycle computer, 254
Gilfillan Radio, 67
Glenn, John, 3
Go (game), 143
Goal-seeking behavior, 124
Gödel, Kurt, 135
“Golem,” 27
Goodrich Tire & Rubber Co., 188
Goodyear
Aircraft Corp., 77
Tire & Rubber Co., 208
Goren, Charles, 226
Government, 258, 263
Greek numbers, 23
Grieg, 11
Grimaldi, 99
_Gulliver’s Travels_, 30
Half-adder, 107, 115
Hamilton, Sir William, 109
“Hand” computer, 132, 214, 215
Handwriting reader, 241
Harcourt-Brace, 226
_Harvard Business Review_, 171, 172
Harvard University, 132, 217, 224
Hawkeye aircraft computer, 162
Heath, D. C., and Co., 226
HAYSTAQ, 249
Heikolator computer, 195
Hero, 18
Heuristics, 56, 142
High-school computer training, 15, 220
High-temperature susceptibility, 69
Hilbert, David, 110
Hiller, Lejaren A., Jr., 197
Hindu numbers, 23
HIPO system, 195
Hippo problem, 155
Hoffman Electronics Corp., 267
Holland, James, 224
Hollerith coding, 42
Hollerith, Herman, 2, 41, 54, 148
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 109
Homeostat, 124
Homer, 26, 47
Hood, H. P. & Sons, 206
Hoover Commission, 149
Hourglass, 24
Household computer, 15, 257
Hughes Aircraft Co., 203, 215, 222
Hugo, Victor, 251
Hybrid computer, 80, 84, 92
IBM cards, 41
IBM 704 computer, 8
IBM 1401 computer, 175
IBM 1620 computer, 177
IBM 7074 computer, 175
Icarus, 18
Ice cream, computer-made, 206
ILLIAC computer, 197
“Illiac Suite,” 196, 197
_Iliad_, 26, 235
India, chess legend, 99
Industrial Advertising Research Institute, 180
Industrial revolution, 173
Industry, 181
“Inflexible Logic,” 32
Information explosion, 245
Information retrieval, 14, 243, 246, 247
Input, computer, 51, 54, 125
Instamatic computer system, 183
Insurance, use of computer, 92, 173
Intellectronics, 258, 262
Intelligence, 124, 135
Interagency Data Processing Committee, 148
Internal Revenue Department, U. S., 150
International Air Transport Association, 235
International Association of Machinists, 218
International Business Machines Corp., 69, 237, 247, 255
Interlingua, 237
Inventory, 176, 185
Inverter, 114, 119
IRE, 170
Isaacson, L. M., 197
Jacquard, Joseph M., 4, 34, 41, 54, 202, 242
Jet engine simulator, 78
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 169
Jevons, William S., 40
JOHNNIAC computer, 11, 47, 129, 140, 142
Johnson’s Wax Co., 178
Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 188, 189, 205
Journalistor, 64, 252
Kalin, Theodore, 45, 135
Kalin-Burkhart machine, 45
Kane, Sydney, 193
Kant, Immanuel, 135
Kelvin, Lord, 75
Kelvin wheels, 76
Khayyám, Omar, 108
KNXT, television station, 179
Kresge Eye Institute, 195
Kyoto University, 243
Lamb, Sydney, 238
Language, computer, 233
LARC computer, 47, 162, 191
Law, 232
Law Institute, American, 152
Learning, 123
forced, 133, 134
free, 7, 133
reinforced, 134
soldered, 7, 133
Learning, Inc., 226
Leibnitz, Gottfried, 24, 29, 85, 99, 109, 120
Lenkurt Electric Co., Inc., 190
LGP-30 computer, 198
Library, use of computers, 231
Limitations of computers, 89
Lincoln Laboratory, 124
Lindgren, Astrid, 3
Literature, computers in, 30
Litton Industries, 128
Livanov, M., 133
Lockheed Aircraft Corp., 185, 248
Logarithms, 30
Logic, 38, 90, 108, 229
Aristotelian, 109
Farnsworth problem, 116, 118
mathematical, 110
symbolic, 38, 109, 110, 115, 248, 255
unit, 60
Logical algebra, 40, 108
piano, 40
Loom, Jacquard, 34
Loy, W. D., 23
Luhn, H. P., 247
Lull, Ramon, 27, 28, 122
Lull’s wheel, 28
_Machine Design_, 180
Machine shop, use of computers, 209
Machine Translations, Inc., 239
MAD, computer language, 220
Maelzel chess automaton, 35
Magic squares, 142
Magnetic cores, 64
Magnetic disc, 63
Magnetic drum, 63
Magnetic films, 88, 255
Magnetic ink, 3, 240
Magnetic tape, 55
Majority rule checking, 60
Malin, David, 220, 221
Maloney, Russell, 32
Management games, 199
MANIAC computer, 47, 156, 165
Man-machine relationship, 258
Mark I computer, 46, 219
Marquand, Allan, 40, 44
Matsuzake, Kiyoshi, 21
Mauchly, John, 47, 85
Mayans, 24, 97
McCarthy, John, 170
McDonnell Aircraft Corp., 186
McDonough, James, 235
McDougall, W., 124
McGraw-Hill Book Co., 226
Mechanical-relay, 122
Mediation principle, 102
Medical diagnosis, 257
Medical Research Foundation, American, 193
Medical use of computers, 193
MEDLARS system, 194
Memex computer, 13
“Memistor,” 137
Memory computer, 51, 63, 254
BIAX, 10
MIND, 137
molecular, 64
scratch-pad, 63
unit, 62
Mercury space capsule, 168, 249
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, 236
Michigan State University, 151
MICR, 240
“Mill,” computer, 38, 51, 60
MIND memory unit, 137
Minneapolis-Honeywell Co., 162, 206, 208, 216
Minimax theory, 156
Minuteman missile, 4, 137, 168
MIPS computer, 159
MIT, 44, 169, 209, 215, 220
Mobot, 145, 215, 216, 266
MOBIDIC computer, 157
Modeling principle, 83
Modular approach, 115, 116
Molecular block memory, 64
Molecular circuit, 9, 253
Molecular electronics, 9
Monsanto Chemical Corp., 208
“Mooer’s” Law, 245
Morse code, 99
Mozart, 11, 197
Multiplication
computer, 61, 107
Russian peasant, 103
MUSE computer, 48
Music, 11, 92, 196, 257
Nanosecond, 61
NANWEP, 165
Napier, John, 30
“Napier’s bones,” 30
National Library of Medicine, 194
NASA, 149
National Bureau of Standards, 94, 239, 249, 258
National Cash Register Co., The, 240
National Science Foundation, 158, 249
Navigation, use of computer, 182
Navy, U. S., 162
Negation principle, 113, 114
Neuristor, 137
Neurons
human, 91, 125, 128, 135
artificial, 136, 138
Newell, Allen, 141, 251
Newton, Isaac, 30
New York University, 194, 220
Nike missile, 119, 157, 191
Nim (game), 8, 143
NORAD, 3, 160, 258
North American Aviation Corp., 65, 185
Numbers
cuneiform, 23
Arabic, 23
Babylonian, 23
binary, 55
discrete, 73
Greek, 23
Hindu, 23
pure binary, 102, 104
Roman, 23, 97
Numerical control, 210
Numerical weather prediction, 163
_Odyssey_, 235
Ohio State University, 222
On-line computers, 81, 205
On-stream computers, 83, 207
_On the Origin of Species_, 32
Operant reinforcement, 223
Operations research, 36, 155, 256
Optical scanning, 240
OR gate, 112, 113, 117, 119
_Outline of Psychology_, 124
Output, computer, 51, 65, 125
Packaging density, 9, 140
Paper tape, 54
Papermaking, 209
Paradox, 45
Parallel addition, 107
Parallel operation, 126
Parametron, 255
Parity bit checking, 105
Parrish, Stephen Maxfield, 235
Pascal, Blaise, 30, 85
Patent Office, U. S., 249
Pauling, Linus, 7, 268
Pavlov, 133
Peace Corps, 149, 258
Peale, Mundy, 125
PEP system, 186
Perceptron, 7, 8, 134, 135
PERT system, 186
Petroleum industry, 208
Philadelphia Electric Co., 208
Philco Corp., 240
Phillips Petroleum Co., 207
Phonetic typewriter, 56
Picatinny Arsenal, 157
Pierce, John R., 147, 197
Pitt, William, 39
Plato, 25, 30
PLATO computer system, 25, 226
Player-piano, 54, 68
“Plot Genii,” 29
Plotto, 29
Pneumatic buffering, 69
Pneumatic capacitor, 69
Pneumatic computer, 54, 68, 69
Pneumatic diode, 69
Pneumatic flip-flop, 69
Pneumatic inductor, 69
Poetry computer, 144
Polaris missile, 4, 162, 168
Polymorphic data-processing, 264
Post office, 55, 149, 225
Potentiometers, 76
Predictive analysis, 238
Predictive control, 205
Prentice-Hall, Inc., 226
President, 16, 258
Pressey, Sydney, 222
Prices, computer, 5, 48, 147
Primitive equations, 163
_Principia Mathematica_, 110
Printed-circuit, 62
Printers, 65, 66
Prison, use of computers, 221
Problem-solving computer, 140, 143
Process control, 83
Procter & Gamble, 249
Program, 52, 226
Programmer, 55, 56, 103, 104, 128, 233
Programming, 36, 55
Psychological Matrix Rotation Computer, 78, 94
Public Health Service, U. S., 194
Pueblo Indians, 97
Punched cards, 2, 34, 41, 42, 43, 54
Purdue University, 76, 220
Pure binary, 102, 104
Q-5 computer, 77
Radcliffe College, 224
Radiation effects, 69
RAMAC computer, 150, 151, 198, 199
Ramo, Simon, 258, 262
Rand Corp., 11, 129
Random-access memory, 63, 131
Random net, 136
Range Keeper Mark I computer, 42
RAYDAC computer, 260
Raytheon Co., 135, 136
RCA, 205, 218, 255
RCA 501 computer, 151
Reading, by computer, 3, 55, 229
_Reader’s Digest_, 236
Real estate, 179
“Real-time” computers, 78, 168, 202, 205
RECOMP computer, 47
Reeves Instrument Co., 77
Republic Aviation Corp., 125
Reservations, airline, 3
Reverberation circuit, 128
Revolution, computer, 251
Rheem Califone, 224
Richardson, L. F., 163
_Road to Oz, The_, 27
Robot, 44, 212
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, 194
Roman numerals, 23, 97
Rosenblatt, Frank, 133, 135
Ross, Douglas, 209
Rossby, C. G., 165
Royal McBee, Corp., 220
Royal Society, 251
_Rubáiyát_, 108
R.U.R., 44, 121
Russia, 11, 77, 133, 143, 195, 207, 215, 221, 236, 242
Russian peasant multiplication, 103
Russell, Bertrand, 110, 111, 130
Sabre computer, 183
SAC, 160, 161
SAGE computer, 3, 12, 37, 53, 158, 159, 226, 259
Samuel, Arthur, 251
Sara Lee Bakeries, 206
Sausage making by computer, 179
Scaling, analog computer, 76
_Scientific American_, 140, 239
“Sea Wolf” testing by computer, 162
Second industrial revolution, 171
Self-reproducing machines, 33, 268
Selfridge, Oliver, 124
Sequential computers, 126
Sex and numbers, 19
Shannon, Claude, 44, 110, 215
Shelley, Mary W., 42
“Shoebox” computer, 242
Sidewinder missile, 160
Signal Corps, U. S. A., 77
Simon, Herbert, 141
Simulator, 79, 169, 187, 189
Simulmatics Corp., 181
Simultaneous linear equations, 77
Skinner, B. F., 133, 223, 230
Skybolt missile, 160
Slide rule, 7, 85
Smee, Alfred, 121
Social Security, 149
“Software,” computer, 54
Solartron-John Brown, Ltd., 174
Sonotype, 243
_Son pan_, 23
“Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” 27
_Soroban_, 5, 22
Southern Methodist University, 179
Spaceborne computers, 167
Space flight, 3, 92
SPADATS system, 160
Special-purpose computers, 79
Speech computer, 242
Sperry Rand Corp., 255
Sports, use of computers, 198
SSEC computer, 155, 156
Standard Oil Co. of California, 207
Stanhope, Earl of, 39
demonstrator, 40
Stapledon, Olaf, 265
Steel mill, 189, 204
Steele, J. E., 132
Stock Exchange, American, 176
Stock market, 176, 177
Stone Age computer, 21
“Store” computer, 36, 62
Stravinsky, Igor, 197
STRETCH computer, 47, 48
Stromberg-Carlson, 191
“Subroutine” computer program, 59
Subtraction, computer, 106
Sumerian cuneiform, 23
Sundial, 24
Sun Oil Co., 208
Supermarket, use of computers, 13, 174
Surveyor space vehicle, 169
Swift, Jonathan, 30
Switch, statistical, 137
Syllogism, 26, 109
Symbiosis, 265
Symbolic logic, 38, 109, 110, 115, 248, 255
Synnoetics, 260
SYNTAC, 150
Synthetic rubber production, 208
System Development Corp., 156, 220, 226
Szoeny refinery, 207
_Tabula rasa_, 126
Tallies, 20
Tape memory, 64
magnetic, 54
paper, 54
TASCON, 180
Taylor, Frederick W., 171
Teaching machines, 6, 100, 222, 225
AutoTutor, 213, 225
CLASS, 226, 227, 228
DIDAK, 224
Digiflex, 225
PLATO, 226
Pressey, S., 222
Skinner, B. F., 133, 223, 230
Videosonic, 222
Technical Information Service, 249
Technical Operations, Inc., 150
Telecredit, 179
Teleflite, 183
Testing computers, 117
Texas Company, The, 208
Thinking, 123
molecular theory of, 268
Thompson Ramo Wooldridge, Inc., 226, 258
Thomson, James, 75
Thomson & McKinnon, 177
Thor missile, 167
Tick-tack-toe, 8, 143
Tik-Tok, 27
Titan missile, 168
TMI Grolier, 226
Torres y Quevedo, L., 35
Trading stamps with computers, 175
Traffic control, 218
Trains, 215
Transcontinental & Western Air Lines, 186
TransfeRobot, 4, 213, 217
Transportation, 181
Transistors, 9, 87, 144
Translation computer, 91, 92, 237
Traveling-wave tube, 255
Truth tables, 110, 112
Tunnel diode, 255te
Turing, A. M., 191
TutorText, 226
UNESCO, 236
Unimate, 4, 212, 213
Union Carbide, 208
Unitary system, 97
Unicall, 243
United Air Lines, 182, 183
United States Industries, Inc., 213, 218, 225
UNIVAC computer, 47, 149, 151, 171, 221
University of California, 76
University of California at Berkeley, 238
University of California at Los Angeles, 133, 219
University of Illinois, 78
University of London, 8
University of Michigan, 135, 220
University of Pennsylvania, 46
University of Philadelphia, 193
University of Southern California, 225
University of Washington, 152
Upjohn Co., The, 127
Vacuum tubes, 9, 63, 114, 122
van Vogt, A. E., 267
Venn, John, 29, 38
Videosonic trainer, 222
VIDIAC character-generator, 242
Vitruvius, 25
Vocal computer, 67
Voltaire, 29
Voltmeter, 76
von Braun, Wernher, 168
von Kempelen, Wolfgang, 35
von Neumann, John, 130, 137, 156, 251, 253
Wall Street, 6, 176
Walter, Grey, 251
Walnut information retrieval system, 246, 247
War strategy, 143
Water clock, 24
Watt, James, 36, 203
_Way of All Flesh, The_, 32
Wearever Aluminum Co., 236
Weather Bureau, U. S., 166
Weather map, 164
Weather prediction, 15, 163
Wells, H. G., 13, 121
Werner, Gerhard, 123
Western Electric Co., 212
Western Reserve University, 245
Westinghouse Corp., 76, 211, 218
Whitehead, A. N., 110, 130
Wiener, Norbert, 123, 251
Williams, John, 268
Wood, Tom, 21
_World Brain_, 13
Wright Brothers, 18
X-15 aircraft, 71, 160
Young & Rubicam, 181
Zero, concept of, 24
Zuse L23 computer, 199
Zworykin, Vladimir, 194
------------------------------------------------------------------------
● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the
public domain.
○ The example of binary division on page 107 couldn’t accurately be
drawn with HTML characters.
○ Some formulas and tables that could not replicated well in HTML
were replaced by page images from the printed book.
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only
when a predominant form was found in this book.
○ Text that:
was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_);
was in bold by is enclosed by “equal” signs (=bold=).
○ The use of a caret (^) before a letter, or letters, shows that the
following letter or letters was intended to be a superscript, as
in 10^{th} Century.
○ Superscripts are used to indicate numbers raised to a power. In
this plain text document, they are represented by characters like
this: “P^3” or “10^{18}”, i.e. P cubed or 10 to the 18th power.
○ Variables in formulas sometimes use subscripts, which look like
this: “A_{0}”. This would be read “A sub 0”.
Comments
Log in to leave a comment.
Computers—the machines we think withChapter IX: Part 9
0%19 min left in chapter