Man-Computer Symbiosis

"Man-Computer Symbiosis" is the title of a work by J. C. R. Licklider, which was published in 1960.[1][2][3] The paper represented what we would today consider a fundamental, or key text of the modern computing revolution.[4]

The work describes something of Licklider's vision for a complementary ("symbiotic") relationship between humans and computers at a potential time in the future. According to Bardini, Licklider envisioned a future time when machine cognition ("cerebration") would surpass and become independent of human direction, as a basic stage of development within human evolution.[5] Jacucci et al. describe Licklider's vision as being the very tight coupling of human brains and computing machines.[3]

As a necessary pre-requisite of human-computer symbiosis, Licklider conceived of a "thinking center",[2] incorporating the functions of libraries with new developments in information technology, and connected to other such centers through computer networks.[6][7]

Streeter identifies the main empirical element of the work as the time and motion analysis, which is shown under Part 3 of the work.[4] In addition he identified two reasons for Licklider to have considered such a symbiotic human computer relationship to be beneficial: firstly, that it might bring about an advantage emerging from the use of a computer, such that there are similarities with the necessary methodology of such a use (i.e. trial and error), to the methodology of problem solving through play, and secondarily, because of the advantage which results from using computers in battle situations.[4] Foster states Licklider sought to promote computer use in order to "augment human intellect by freeing it from mundane tasks".[8]

Streeter considers Licklider to be positing an escape from the limitations of the mode of computer use during his time, which was batch processing.[4] Russell thinks Licklider was stimulated by an encounter with the newly developed PDP-1.[9]

  1. ^ T. Messbarger - Short-Biography of J.C.R. Licklider published by Ohio University [Retrieved 2015-08-08]
  2. ^ a b Licklider, J. C. R. (March 1960). "Man-Computer Symbiosis". IRE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics. HFE-1: 4–11. doi:10.1109/THFE2.1960.4503259. ISSN 2168-2836.
  3. ^ a b Jacucci, Giulio; Spagnolli, Anna; Freeman, Jonathan; Gamberini, Luciano (2014). "Symbiotic Interaction: A Critical Definition and Comparison to other Human-Computer Paradigms". In Jacucci, Giulio; Gamberini, Luciano; Freeman, Jonathan; Spagnolli, Anna (eds.). Symbiotic Interaction: Third International Workshop, Symbiotic 2014, Helsinki, Finland, October 30-31, 2014, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Vol. 8820. Cham: Springer-Verlag. pp. 3–20. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-13500-7_1. ISBN 9783319135007. OCLC 900120411.
  4. ^ a b c d Streeter, Thomas (2011). The Net Effect: Romanticism, Capitalism, and the Internet. Critical Cultural Communication. New York: NYU Press. p. 32–34. doi:10.18574/nyu/9780814741153.001.0001. ISBN 9780814741160. JSTOR j.ctt9qfwf9. OCLC 630468250.
  5. ^ Bardini, Thierry (2000). Bootstrapping: Douglas Engelbart, Coevolution, and the Origins of Personal Computing. Writing Science. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. pp. 20–21. ISBN 0804738718. OCLC 44467462.
  6. ^ Fuchs-Kittowski, Klaus (2014). "The Influence of Philosophy on the Understanding of Computing and Information". In Hagengruber, Ruth; Riss, Uwe V. (eds.). Philosophy, Computing and Information Science. History and Philosophy of Technoscience. Vol. 3. London: Pickering & Chatto. pp. 45–56 (50). ISBN 9781848935082. OCLC 876292357.
  7. ^ Fuchs-Kittowski, Klaus (2006). "Strategies for the Effective Integration of ICT into Social Organization—Organization of Information Processing and the Necessity of Social Informatics". In Berleur, Jacques; Nurminen, Markku I.; Impagliazzo, John (eds.). Social Informatics: An Information Society for All? In Remembrance of Rob Kling: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference 'Human Choice and Computers' (HCC7), IFIP TC 9, Maribor, Slovenia, September 21-23, 2006. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology. Vol. 223. Boston, MA: Springer-Verlag. pp. 431–444 (436). doi:10.1007/978-0-387-37876-3_34. ISBN 9780387378756. OCLC 74270532.
  8. ^ Foster, Ian (2008). "Human-Machine Symbiosis, 50 Years On". In Grandinetti, Lucio (ed.). High Performance Computing and Grids in Action. Advances in Parallel Computing. Vol. 16. Amsterdam; Washington, DC: IOS Press. pp. 3–15. arXiv:0712.2255. ISBN 9781586038397. OCLC 221165979.
  9. ^ Russell, Andrew L. (2014). Open Standards and the Digital Age: History, Ideology, and Networks. Cambridge Studies in the Emergence of Global Enterprise. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 164. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139856553. ISBN 9781107039193.