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One of the things they "got" back then with ideas around symbiosis, cybernetics, etc. is how computers have the capacity to move humanity to a sort of superhuma

by bane 6y ago

One of the things they "got" back then with ideas around symbiosis, cybernetics, etc. is how computers have the capacity to move humanity to a sort of superhuman state -- with computers augmenting and even replacing the things that humans are quite terrible at. In many ways we've achieved that -- the internet forms a kind of collective super memory for example. But in other ways we've failed very hard -- computers are mostly used for consumption and interfaces and tools are dumbed down now that expert users often don't have a way of really advancing beyond themselves into superhuman levels of virtuosic domains.

ArtWomb 6y ago
At the level of the individual human, there is little to be considered by way of "symbiosis". All productivity gains can be reduced to the efficient production and consumption of digital content. But at the societal level, a definite creeping parasitism born of computerization has entered us. We can see it in the surveillance apparatus in HK, post-Umbrella Revolution. It arrives under the guise of the "smart city". If anyone caught the NVidia Omniverse "smart factory" demo from GTC21, the capability is already productized. Ready to be deployed at trans-national scale. I think what would be most shocking to Licklider's generation is how willingly we trade "free culture" for convenience and security. And as the system becomes more benevolent, as our dependence more all-encompassing. How we begin to supplant all independence to a worship of the machine!
- yummypaint 6y ago
  I think what would be most shocking to Licklider's generation is how willingly we trade "free culture" for convenience and security. I think it's even worse than this. Many populer "smart lightbulbs" are less convenient than a lightswitch and create network security holes. Alot of cloud based software is worse than locally run applications for most people's use cases. Maybe fashion is the key driver of change?

by bane 6y ago

ArtWomb 6y ago

At the level of the individual human, there is little to be considered by way of "symbiosis". All productivity gains can be reduced to the efficient production and consumption of digital content. But at the societal level, a definite creeping parasitism born of computerization has entered us. We can see it in the surveillance apparatus in HK, post-Umbrella Revolution. It arrives under the guise of the "smart city". If anyone caught the NVidia Omniverse "smart factory" demo from GTC21, the capability is already productized. Ready to be deployed at trans-national scale. I think what would be most shocking to Licklider's generation is how willingly we trade "free culture" for convenience and security. And as the system becomes more benevolent, as our dependence more all-encompassing. How we begin to supplant all independence to a worship of the machine!

yummypaint 6y ago
I think what would be most shocking to Licklider's generation is how willingly we trade "free culture" for convenience and security. I think it's even worse than this. Many populer "smart lightbulbs" are less convenient than a lightswitch and create network security holes. Alot of cloud based software is worse than locally run applications for most people's use cases. Maybe fashion is the key driver of change?