People
talk about the fact that some employees are displaced by computers. This is
true, but you must also consider the number of jobs opening up due to "computers"..There are
hundreds of job titles that exist now in this field that did not exist several
years ago.
Computer
Programmer, Web Page Designer , Network Administrator
COMDEX
is the largest showplace of vendors. It showcases new job opportunities,
hardware etc.
Automation
is influencing our lives and will continue to do so. Automation is in use in
offices. Will we get to the PAPERLESS office ? Today,
you can word process and fax your documents through your computer. You can also
answer your phone through your computer. Automation will now be moving into our
homes: Your home computer can now be used to control your lights,
Air-conditioner, hot water heater, and burglar alarm The
next step is to use your computer to "manage" your television.
Imagine distance learning with on-line lectures using a video camera mounted on
your monitor.
CAE- Computer Aided Engineering is the field of creating
prototypes on the computer. Allows you to create a new object and
"test" it on the computer.
CAM - Computer Aided
Manufacturing is the use of computers to control production equipment. Allows
you to produce the object you designed.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial
Intelligence has many different definitions: Ex: at one time, researchers used
a chess game as a test. They strived for the day that they could have the
computer win a game of chess with a human. Computers can ACT
intelligent, but they are not-Game of chess for example.
Do
computers UNDERSTAND. ? Have FEELINGS
?
EXPERT
SYSTEMS = a combination database, rules set, search program.
ex:
Legal cases
Computers can seem intelligent by doing things
quickly. ex: patterns recognition - looking up
patterns such as finger prints in memory and matching instead of recognizing.
This PATTERN MATCHING is also used in Retina scanners.
Optical
Character Recognition = Recognizing characters using a camera.
Uses : scanning a text into a word processor. Post
Office uses this to scan letters
Sound
and speech can be digitized into a recognizable pattern.
Soon
we will be able to ASK our computer about the latest sports scores. Using an
EXPERT SYSTEM and past experience with us, it will determine WHICH scores we
want and say them to us. Could this result in actual CONVERSATION between you
and your computer ??
ROBOTS
Early
- cable connected - slow - awkward
Robots
- Flexible, programmable, voice activated, camera assisted ,
"sensitive", smaller
Robot
Wars- Great T.V. show
Current
robots use light recognition and pattern recognition to perform simple tasks..
Ex:
Memorial Hospital
Ex:
Car production
Future-
microscopic - cheaper – (nanotechnology)
ex : windows cleaners. thousands made cheaply
Jetsons : voice activated decision
making-
ex:
house keeper - comes out everyday to vacuum floors, clean windows - listen for
intruders - call police - do laundry –
HONDAs new robot is capable of walking upright like a
human on two legs. Implications ???
Such
as a robot would use optical recognition, sound recognition, A.I., pattern
recognition, and would contain a knowledge base and a set
of rules
VIRTUAL REALITY
Simulates movement using computer generated signals. We are moving from early
rough models to smooth futuristic scenarios.
Wouldn’t you want your doctor to “practice” surgery using VR
before he tries it on you ??
Virtual
Trips using large simulators.
CAMERAS
An
often overlooked aspect of the effect of computers on society is the web cam.
From it’s early beginnings in the pornography
industry (watching bedrooms ) to it’s
everyday use watching traffic, the camera WILL change the way we do business..
As
of now, we can watch still camera shots from anywhere in the world. This allows
us to look at recent “snapshots” from a site.
The
future will allow us to watch “Streaming Video” or live camera shots from
anywhere.
Ex:
Nursery school, warehouses. Communicating
with others around the world..
We
will also get to a point where we can “control” the camera from our own
computer.
Implications
– REAL virtual shopping ( Harley Davidson store ), Ski
reports,watching
employees from anywhere in the world.
All
of these features and uses require the use of HIGH-SPEED data transmission.
Standard
copper phone lines will not allow this therefore Phone companies are replacing
lines with FIBER OPTIC lines that allow for FAST ACCESS.