Individuals and Machines

1
Individuals and Machines

• ITGS

2
Some computer history

• 600 AD Abacus
• 17th Century
• Slide Rule
• Pascals Mechanical Calculator (decimal)
• Leibniz calculator (thought on a binary calc!)
• 18th Century
• Jaquard loom (making clothes)
• First programmable machine
• Had memory
• Punched cards for different patterns
• Charles Xavier Thomas de Comars Calculator
  first massively sold to business and industries

A nice graphical summary senior.british.edu.uy/it
_dept/itgs/history.jpg
3
History (cont)

• 19th Century
• Charles Babbage
• Difference Engine
• Powered by steam
• Multiplyed numbers
• Printed the tables on metal plates (to print
  tables)
• Never built due to complexity and economic
  reasons!
• Analytical Engine
• Many mathematical operations
• Distinguished memory, CPU, control unit
• Programmable
• Conditional Branching, Iterations and
  Sub-routines
• Never built for same reasons

4
History (cont)

• End of the 19th century
• Herman Hollerith Census machine
• The last decades had a 25 increase in
  population, it took 9 years to process all data.
• Herman was census employee and design a punched
  card machine that recorded and analysed all
  census data in about 6 weeks
• Founder of the initial IBM
• 20th Century
• 1946 - ENIAC first electronic machine
• Had to be rewired for each program
• 5000 additions per second
• Weighed 30 tons
• Located in a river to dissipate heat
• Used vacuum tubes (needed to be frequently
  replaced)
• Cost 10 million dollars (todays dollars)

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History (cont)

• 1912-1954 Alan Turing
• 1947 Invention of the transistor
• Replaced the vacuum tubes- didnt burn and were
  much faster.
• 50s and 60s Computers used in industry, business
  and scientific research
• 1962 DEC introduces Microprocessor. It gave way
  to the development of personal computers.
• 1974 first microcomputer
• 1982 IBM PC (IBM compatibles, PC cloning
  started)
• 80s software developments was extraordinary
  word processors, spread sheets, databases, etc.

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History (cont)

• The 90s
• User friendly operating systems and software
• Laptop Notebook computers
• Creation of the WWW (1989)
• Hardware at great development
• Communications and Computer technology convergence

7
Situations were machines serve better than humans

• Industrial repetitive, mechanical tasks
• Calculations, great accuracy needed
• Monitoring
• Accumulating a lot of information
• Instantaneous communications needed
• A lot of patience required
• Continuous work, stamina
• Working in dangerous situations

8
Humans are better? When?

• Interpretations of results
• Value/moral judgments are needed
• Respond to unforeseen situations
• Non-polynomial problems
• Understanding
• Contextual information
• Jokes
• Irony

9
Machines in place of people.

• Common uses word, excel, games, etc.
• Communications and Information Services
• Automobiles
• Education
• Crime fighting
• Medical devices

• Patient records
• Diagnosis
• Telemedicine
• Computer Technology for disabled people
• Science, Research and Engineering
• Automation
• Identification systems
• Reducing paper trash

10
Common Uses

• Word Processing
• Spreadsheets
• Databases
• Games
• Graphic manipulation
• Music and Art
• Films

11
Communications

• Telephone directing involves routing and
  switching. This was done by humans in the past.
  If it were still done by humans then half of the
  adult population in USA would work as telephone
  operators.
• E-mail vs. Telephone
• Internet info
• News
• Movie reviews
• Weather forecast
• Etc etc etc!!!
• Power of search engines in research
• Digital Libraries
• People can access delicate documents (old
  manuscripts)
• Do not require physical transport to library
• Many people can access a document at the same
  time

12
Automobiles

• ABS technology (smart car breaks)
• Intelligent Industrial cars trucks
• Ford and GM are working on a night vision device
  for cars.
• A future with no drivers?

13
Education and Training

• Speak and Spell programs
• Visit tutorials.com !!
• Distance Learning
• Multimedia increases information retain.
• Speech recognition helps foreign speakers.
• Simulators used for training

14
Crime fighting

• Criminal databases help to narrow down a suspect
  list.
• Fingerprint recognition
• Best routes to get faster to a place
• Crime scene recomposal

15
Medical Devices

• Computer aided tomography
• Magnetic resonance imaging
• Interpretation of big amounts of data from
  medical analysis
• One million Americans wear Pacemakers. They
  reduce the death probability from 30 to 3
• Blood glucose scanner (light based, for diabetes)
• Patient Monitoring
• Genetic testing
• Remote surgery

16
Patient records

• Doctor handwriting vs Times New Roman
• Written documents are often unavailable
• Statistical research on diseases and treatments
• Fast patient history access in emergencies may be
  crucial

17
Diagnosis

• Expert Systems
• A new computer program predicts the result of
  biopsies for prostate cancer with 87 accuracy.
• Ultrasound helps to determine is a woman has
  breast cancer or not.
• Remote consulting for diagnosis

18
Automation in hospitals

• Helps to administer hospital resources
• Ensures the availability of supplies
• Increases hospital safety
• Helps to route emergency patient flows and to
  call appropriate doctor

19
Disabled people and computer devices

• An eye moving is enough
• Speech synthesizer helps blind people
• Braille printers and keyboards
• Master voice programs connected to house
  appliances
• Tongue mouses

20
Science Research

• Research and the Internet
• Instrument control
• Monitoring
• Modelling
• Computation of scientific data
• Creating reports and graphical displays

21
Identification Systems

• Bar codes
• Scanners
• Magnetic Cards
• Touch memory buttons
• Smart Cards

22
Discussions

• Grab each of the above issues and discuss the
  ethical considerations and disadvantages that the
  use of machines may have.

23
Important discussion issues

• Privacy of patient records
• Genetic testing
• Universal computer literacy
• Distance education security
• Socialization and CAE
• Democracy and Internet