{Man and Machine}[12th February 1970]

[Redbook1:123][19700212:1135]{Man and Machine}[12th February 1970]

Thursday 12th February 1970 11.35 a.m.

            They do say that machines are becoming more and more like men.

            Take Victoria Line trains, which calculate how far away from the train in front they are and operate accordingly.  They receive and process information, and act on it.  But in fact, their degree of choice is no greater than is that of the machinery in an old train; it is just that the scope of the choice is wider, and the information more complicated.  They have in no sense any freedom of choice.  Their power might be compared to our reflex actions, where, if everything functions properly, the result of information is not in doubt.

            In fact, the more we live by reflex or instinctive reaction -- the more we program ourselves consciously or sub-consciously to react to certain stimuli without rational thought, through habit -- the less human we become.  In certain circumstances it may do more good to oneself in the long run to think and make the wrong decision than to react blindly the right way.

[PostedBlogger24122012]