Which of these was the second era of computing concerned with? Choose one
Answers
Explanation:
The Apple iPhone 4S announced last week received generally tepid reviews. The tech press was expecting more, mostly in the external form factor of the iPhone, and was disappointed when the “new” iPhone looked the same as the old.
I completely disagree with the lack of enthusiasm, and think that the tech press missed a truly important development. I believe the iPhone 4S will eventually be seen as a crucial turning point in the history of technology because of its Siri speech comprehension software. Specifically, Siri is going to take a tool, the smartphone, and turn it into a companion. Computers aren’t going to be boxes that we use to do things any more. Instead, they are going to be our friends, allies, and servants that do things for us. They are going to be our protectors, advocates, and alter egos in cyberspace. Technology is moving past its First Era of being passive enablers that allow us to do things while we use them, into a more mature, Second Era where they work alongside of us.
Apple is not the first, but…
Apple isn’t the first company to create smart computer systems. IBM’s Watson computer made its public debut by beating the human champions on the television game show Jeopardy!, which was chosen because of it’s whimsical, very human use of the English language. Genetic programming (“GP”) is a means of creating rules to identify patterns by means of natural selection, and can solve problems that humans can’t, or create solutions that humans might not consider, thereby augmenting human brains. John Koza, one of the pioneers in the field of GP, has used it to create new technologies, including new, patentable inventions. And there are undoubtedly other smart systems of the Second Era out there.
And Apple didn’t create Siri, they bought it from a company called SRI Ventures, which co-developed it with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, an arm of the U.S Department of Defense that, among other things, invented the Internet. Siri was originally sold as an app for the iPhone, starting in February of 2010, with no involvement by Apple. But Apple bought it in April of 2010, and went to work on improving it and making it smarter and more responsive. Moreover, the fact that Apple has made it a significant feature of the iPhone, and calls it a beta version, means that it intends to continue to improve it.
But what Apple has done, and the reason why Siri will be so significant, is that it has created an entrancing user interface for a powerful technology that will entice people into using it, and it is this that is going to be a game changer. I suspect that Apple sees Siri and related developments as the way of the future: a computer that acts as if it’s your intelligent assistant or personal genie in cyberspace. Assuming it works reasonably well, and isn’t laughed off the stage, it will change the way we use technology forever