Discussion Questions

Chapter 2

1.) Why are computer manufacturers constantly releasing faster computers? How do computer users benefit from the increased speed?

2.) How is human memory similar to computer memory? How is it different?

Chapter 3

1.) If we think of the human brain as a computer, what are the input devices? What are the output devices? What are the storage devices?

2.) What kind of new input and output devices do you think future computers might have? Why?

Chapter 4

In what way is writing instructions for a computer for a computer more difficult than writing instructions for a person? In what way is it easier?

How would using a computer be different if it had no operating system? How would programming be different?

Speculate about the user interface of a typical computer in the year 2010. How would this user interface differ from those in today’s computers?

If you had the resources to design a computer with a brand new user interface, what would your priorities be? Make a rank-ordered list of the qualities you’d like to have in your user interface.

How do you feel about the open software movement? Would you be willing to volunteer your time to write software or help users for free?

Chapter 5

1.) Which of the word processing features and software categories described in chapter 5 would be most useful to you as a student? How do you think you would use them?

2.) What do you think of the arguments that word processing reduce the quality of writing because (1) it makes it easy to write hurriedly and carelessly and (2) it puts the emphasis on the way a document looks rather than on what it says?

3.) Many experts fear that desktop publishing technology will result in a glut of unprofessional, tacky-looking publications. Others fear that it will result in a glut of slick-looking documents full of shoddy ideas and dangerous lies. How do you feel about each of these ideas?

4.) Like Gutenberg’s development of the movable type printing press more than 500 years ago, the development of desktop publishing puts powerful communication tools in the hands of more people. What impact will desktop publishing technology have on the free press and the free exchange of ideas guaranteed in the United States Constitution? What impact will the same technology have on free expression in other countries?

5.) Discuss question 4, substituting Web publishing for desktop publishing.

Chapter 6

1.) Spreadsheets are sometimes credited with legitimizing the personal computer as a business tool. Why do you think they had such an impact?

2.) Why do you think errors in spreadsheet models go undetected? What can you do to minimize the risk of spreadsheet errors?

3.) The statement “People don’t make mistakes, people do” is often used to support the reliability of computer output. Is this statement true? Is it relevant?

4.) Are computer simulations misused? Give some examples, and explain your answer.

5.) Before spreadsheets, people who wanted to use computers for financial modeling had to write programs in complex computer languages to do the job. Today spreadsheets have replaced those programs for many financial applications. Dou you think spreadsheets will be replaced by some easier to use software tool in the future? If so, try to imagine what it will be like.

6.) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of computer simulation as a tool for research and education.

Chapter 7

1.) How does modern digital image processing technology affect the reliability of photographic evidence? How does digital audio technology affect the reliability of sound recordings as evidence? How should our legal system respond to this technology?

2.) Scanners, video digitizers, and audio digitizers make it easier than ever for people to violate copyright laws. What, if anything, should be done to protect intellectual property rights of the people who create pictures, videos, and music? Under what circumstances do you think it is acceptable to copy sounds or images for use in your own work?

3.) Do you think hypermedia documents will eclipse certain kinds of books and other media? If so, which ones and why?

4.) Thanks to modern electronic music technology, one or two people and make a record that would have required dozens of musicians 20 years ago. What impact will electronic music technology ultimately have on the music profession?

5.) Try to answer each of the questions posed at the end of the section called “Interactive Media: Visions of the Future”.

If television today can mesmerize so many people, will tomorrow’s interactive multimedia TVs cause even more serious addiction problems? Or will interactive communication breathe new life into the media and the people who use them?

Will interactive electronic media make it easier for abusers of power to influence and control unwary citizens, or will the power of the push button create a new kind of digital democracy?

Will interactive digital technology just turn “sound bites” into “sound bytes”, or will it unleash the creative potential in the people who use it?

Chapter 8

1.) Grade books, checkbooks and other information collections can be managed with either a database program or a spreadsheet program. How would you decide which type of application is most appropriate for a given job?

2.) What have you done this week that directly or indirectly involved a database? How would your week have been different in a world without databases?

3.) “The computer is a great humanizing factor because it makes the individual more important. The more information we have on each individual, the more each individual counts.” Do you agree with this statement by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov? Why or why not?

4.) Suppose you have been incorrectly billed for $100 by a mail order house. You protestations are ignored by the company, which is now threatening to report you to a collection agency. What do you do?

5.) What advantages and disadvantages does a computerized law enforcement system have for law-abiding citizens?

6.) In what ways were George Orwell’s “predictions” in the novel 1984 accurate? In what ways were they wrong?

Chapter 9

1.) Suppose you have an important message to send to a friend in another city, and you can use the telephone, email, real-time teleconference, fax, or overnight mail service. Discuss the advantages of each. See if you can think of a situation for each of the five options in which that particular option is the most appropriate choice.

2.) Some people choose to spend several hours every day online. Do you see potential hazards in this kind of heavy modem use? Explain your answer.

3.) In the quote at the end of the chapter, Steward Brand points out that electronic communication is essential for some of the world’s people and irrelevant to others. What distinguishes these two groups? What advantages and disadvantages does each have?

Chapter 10

1.) How did the Internet’s Cold War origin influence its’ basic decentralized, packet-switching design? How does that design affect the way we use the Net today? What are the political implications of that design today?

2.) Why is the World Wide Web important as a publishing medium? In what ways is the Web different from any publishing medium that’s ever existed before?

Chapter 11

1.) As scientist, engineer, and government officials develop plans for the future of the Internet, they wrestle with questions about who should have access and what kinds of

services to plan for. Do you have any ideas about the kinds of things they might want to consider?

2.) Do you know anyone who has experienced Internet addiction? If so, can you describe the experience?

3.) How do you think online user interfaces will evolve as bandwidth and processing power increase? Describe what cyberspace will feel like in the 2010, in the year 2050, and beyond.

Chapter 12

1.) Are computers morally neutral? Explain your answer.

2.) Suppose Whizzo Software Company produces a program that looks, from the user’s point of view, exactly like the immensely popular Bozo-Works from Bozo, Inc. Whizzo insists that it didn’t copy any of the code in Bozo-Works; it just tried to design a program that would appeal to Bozo-Works users. Bozo cries foul and sues Whizzo for violation of intellectual property laws. Do you think the laws should favor Bozo’s arguments or Whizzo’s? Why?

3.) What do you suppose motivates people to create computer viruses and other destructive software? What do you think motivates hackers to break into computer systems? Are the two types of behavior related?

4.) Some people think all mail messages on the Internet should be encrypted. They argue that, if everything is encrypted, the encrypted message won’t stand out, so everybody’s right to privacy will be better protected. Others suggest that this would just improve the cover of criminals with something to hide from the government. What do you think, and why?

5.) Would you like to work in a business where all employees were required to wear active badges? Explain your answer.

6.) How do the issues raised in the debate over SDI apply to other large software systems? How do you feel about the different issues raised in the debate?

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

1.) Is the Turing test a valid test of intelligence? Why or why not?

2.) If you were the interrogator in the Turing test, what questions would you ask to try to discover whether you were communicating with a computer? What would you look for in the answers?

3.) List several mental tasks that people do better than computers. List several mental tasks that computers do better than people. Can you find any general characteristics that distinguish the items on the two lists?

4.) Computers can compose original music, produce original artwork, and create original mathematical proofs. Does this mean that Ada King was wrong when she said, in effect, that computers can do only what they’re told to do?

5.) The works of AARON, the expert system artist, are unique, original and widely acclaimed as art. Who is the artist, AARON or Harold Cohen, AARON’s creator? Is AARON a work of art, an artist, or both?

6.) If an expert system gives you erroneous information, should you be able to sue it for malpractice? If it fails and causes major disruptions or injury, who’s responsible? The programmer? The publisher? The owner? The computer?

7.) Some expert systems and neural nets can’t explain the reasons behing their decisions. What kinds of problems might this limitation cause? Under what circumstances, if any, should an expert system be required to produce an “audit trail” to explain how it reached conclusions?

8.) What kinds of human jobs are most likely to be eliminated because of expert systems? What kinds of new jobs will be created because of expert systems?

9.) What kinds of human jobs are most likely to be eliminated because of robots? What kinds of new jobs will be created as a result of factory automation?

10.) Are Asimov’s three laws of robotics adequate for smoothly integrating intelligent robots into tomorrow’s society? If not, what laws would you add?

Chapter 15

1.) What evidence do we have that our society is going through a paradigm shift?

2.) What will have to happen before the paperless office (or the less-paper office) becomes are reality?

3.) Many cities are enacting legislation to encourage telecommuting. If you were drafting such legislation, what would you include?

4.) People who work in electronic sweatshops run the risk of being replaced by technology. Discuss the trade-offs of this dilemma from the point of view of the worker and society at large.

*5.) What do you think are the answers to the questions raised at the end of the section on automation and unemployment? How do you think most people would feel about these questions?

Do governments have an obligation to provide public assistance to the chronically unemployed?

Should large companies be required to give several months’ notice to workers whose jobs are being eliminated? Should they be required to retrain workers for other jobs?

Should large companies be required to file “employment impact statements” before replacing people with machines in the same way they’re required to file environmental impact statements before implementing policies that harm the environment?

If robots and computers are producing most of society’s goods and services, should all of the profits from those goods go to a few people who own the machines?

If a worker is replaced by a robot, should the worker receive a share of the robot’s “earnings” through stocks or profit sharing?

The average workweek 150 years ago was 70 hours; for the last 50 years it has been steady at about 40. Should governments and businesses encourage job-sharing and other systems that allow for less than 40-hour jobs?

What will people do with their time if machines do most of the work? What new leisure activities should be made available.

How will people define their identities if work becomes less central to their lives?

Chapter 16

1.) Socrates was illiterate and avoided the written word because he felt it weakened the mind. Similarly, many people today fear that we’re weakening our children’s minds by making them too dependent on computers and calculators. What do you think?

2.) In many schools students spend two years of math education learning long division – a skill that’s almost never used in the age of the five-dollar calculator. Some educators argue that student’s time could be better spent learning other things. What do you think? What about calculating square roots by hand?

3.) Do you think it’s important for students to learn to program in LOGO, Pascal, Basic, or some other language? Why or why not?

4.) Do you think educational games are good ways for students to learn in schools? Give examples that support your arguments.

5.) What kinds of productivity software tools should students learn to use? Why?

6.) Think about educational goals in relation to technology. What should people be able to do with no tools? What should people be able to do if they have access to pencils, papers, and books? What should people be able to do if they have access to computer technology?

Chapter 17

1.) Some of the most interesting technological ideas are emerging from interdisciplinary labs at MIT, Carnegie-Mellon University, Xerox, and elsewhere – labs where scientists, engineers, artists, and philosophers work together on projects that break down the traditional barriers. Why do you think this is so?

2.) Millions of computers worldwide are already connected to networks. But unlike highways and railroads today’s computer networks aren’t widely available, easy to use, and obviously valuable to the general population. What will need to happen for the information infrastructure to transform our lives the way highways and railroads transformed our ancestors’ lives?

3.) Arthur C. Clark and others have suggested that virtual reality will replace T.V. Do you agree? If it does, will that be a good thing?

4.) What kinds of questions might be raised if humans develop biologically based computers? How might the computers change our society?

5.) Discuss the questions raised in the section called “Human Questions for a Computer Age.” Which of those questions are the most important? Which are hardest to answer?

A.) Will computers be democratic?B.) Will personal computers and the Internet empower ordinary citizens to

make better lives for themselves? Or will computer technology produce a society of technocrats and techno-peasants? Will computerized polls help elected officials better serve the needs of their constituents? Or will they just give the powerful another tool for staying in power? Will networks revitalize participatory democracy through electronic town meetings? Or, will they give tyrants the tools to monitor and control citizens?

C.) The real question lies here: do these instruments further life and its’ values not?

D.) Will electronic interconnections provide new opportunities to further peace, harmony and understanding? Or will the intense competition of the global marketplace simply create new kinds of wars – information wars? Or will they simply make it easier for information-rich countries to exploit developing nations from a distance? Will information technology be used to promote and preserve diverse communities, cultures and ecosystems? Or will it undercut traditions, cultures and roots?

E.) Can human bodies and minds adapt to the higher stimulation, faster pace, and constant change of the information age? Will our information-heavy environment cause us to lose touch with the fundamental human needs? Will we become so dependent on our “pretty toys” that we can’t get by without them? Will we lose our sense of purpose and identity as our machines become more intelligent? Or will we learn to balance the demands of the technology with our biological and spiritual needs?

6.) Do you foresee a time when we will share the Earth with truly intelligent beings of our own creation? Why or why not?

7.) Read and discuss “Borg in the Mirror” on page 451.