Computers As Machines
 
The progression of the machine into all aspects of human
life has continued unabated since the medieval watchmakers
of Europe and the Renaissance study of science that
followed Clocks . Whilst this change has been exceedingly
rapid from a historical perspective, it can nevertheless be
divided into distinct periods, though rather arbitrarily,
by some criteria such as how people travelled or how
information was transferred over long distances. However
these periods are defined, their lengths have become
increasingly shorter, with each new technological
breakthrough now taking less than ten years to become
accepted (recent examples include facsimile machines, video
recorders and microwave ovens). One of the most recent, and
hence most rapidly absorbed periods, has been that of the
computer. The Age of Computing began with Charles Babbage
in the late 19th century Babbage , grew in the calculating
machines between the wars EarlyIBM , continued during the
cryptanalysis efforts of World War II Turing,Bletchley and
finally blossomed in the late 1970's with mass market
applications in the developed countries (e.g. JapanSord ).
Computers have gone through several `generations' of
development in the last fifty years and their rate of
change fits neatly to exponential curves Graphs ,
suggesting that the length of each generation will become
shorter and shorter, decreasing until some unforeseen limit
is reached. This pattern agrees with the more general
decrease of length between other technological periods. The
great strength of computers whether viewed as complex
machines, or more abstractly as merely another type of
tool, lies in their enormous flexibility. This flexibility
is designed into a computer from the moment of its
conception and accounts for much of the remarkable
complexity that is inherent in each design. For this very
reason, the uses of computers are now too many to ever
consider listing exhaustively and so only a representative
selection are considered below. Computers are now used to
control any other machine that is subject to a varying
environment, (e.g. washing machines, electric drills and
car engines). Artificial environments such as hotels,
offices and homes are maintained in pre-determined states
of comfort by computers in the thermostats and lighting
circuits. Within a high street shop or major business,
every financial or stockkeeping transaction will be
recorded and acknowledged using some form of computer. The
small number of applications suggested above are so common
to our experiences in developed countries that we rarely
consider the element which permits them to function as a
computer. The word `microprocessor' is used to refer to a
`stand-alone' computer that operates within these sorts of
applications. Microprocessors are chips at the heart of
every computer, but without the ability to modify the way
they are configured, only a tiny proportion of their
flexibility is actually used. The word `computer' is now
defined as machines with a microprocessor, a keyboard and a
visual display unit (VDU), which permit modification by the
user of the way that the microprocessor is used.
 
Computers in this sense are used to handle more complex
information than that with which microprocessors deal, for
example, text, pictures and large amounts of information in
databases. They are almost as widespread as the
microprocessors described above, having displaced the
typewriter as the standard writing tool in many offices and
supplanted company books as the most reliably current form
of accountancy information. In both these examples, a
computer permits a larger amount of information to be
stored and modified in a less time-consuming fashion than
any other method used previously. Another less often
considered application is that of communication. Telephone
networks are today controlled almost entirely by computers,
unseen by the customer, but actively involved in every
telephone call phones . The linking of computers themselves
by telephone and other networks has led people to
communicate with each other by using the computer to both
write the text (a word-processor) and to send it to its
destination. This is known as electronic mail, or `email'.
The all pervasive nature of the computer and its obvious
benefits have not prevented a growing number of people who
are vociferously concerned with the risks of widespread
application of what is still an undeniably novel technology
comp.risks,ACMrisks . Far from being reactionary prophets
of doom, such people are often employed within the computer
industry itself and yet have become wary of the pace of
change. They are not opposed to the use of computers in
appropriate environments, but worry deeply when critical
areas of inherently dangerous operations are performed
entirely by computers. Examples of such operations include
correctly delivering small but regular doses of drugs into
a human body and automatically correcting (and hence
preventing) aerodynamic stability problems in an aircraft
plane1,plane2 . Both operations are typical `risky'
environments for a computer since they contain elements
that are tedious (and therefore error-prone) for a human
being to perform, yet require the human capacity to
intervene rapidly when the unexpected occurs. Another
instance of the application of computers to a problem
actually increasing the risks attached is the gathering of
statistical information about patients in a hospital.
Whilst the overall information about standards of health
care is relatively insensitive, the comparative costs of
treatment by different physicians is obviously highly
sensitive information. Restricting the `flow 'of such
information is a complex and time-consuming business.
Predictions for future developments in computing
applications are notoriously difficult to cast with any
accuracy, since the technology which is driving the
developments changes so rapidly. Interestingly, much of
what has been developed so far has its conceptual roots in
science fiction stories of the late 1950's. Pocket
televisions, lightning fast calculating machines and
weapons of pin-point accuracy were all first considered in
fanciful fiction. Whilst such a source of fruitful ideas
has yet to be fully mined out, and indeed, Virtual Reality
(see below) has been used extensively Neuromancer and
others, many more concepts that are now appearing that have
no fictional precursors. Some such future concepts, in
which computers would be of vital importance, might be the
performance of delicate surgical procedures by robot,
controlled by a computer, guided in turn by a human
surgeon; the control of the flow of traffic in a large city
according to information gathered by remote sensors;
prediction of earthquakes and national weather changes
using large computers to simulate likely progressions from
a known current state weather ; the development of cheap,
fast and secure coding machines to permit guaranteed
security in international communications; automatic
translation from one language to another as quickly as the
words are spoken; the simulation of new drugs' chemical
reactions with the human body. These are a small fraction
of the possible future applications of computers, taken
from a recent prediction of likely developments JapanFuture
. One current development which has relevance to all the
above, is the concept known as `Virtual Reality' and is
discussed further below. Virtual Reality
 
Virtual Reality, or VR, is a concept that was first
formally proposed in the early Seventies by Ted Nelson
ComputerDreams , though this work appears to be in part a
summary of the current thinking at that time. The basic
idea is that human beings should design machines that can
be operated in a manner that is as natural as possible, for
the human beings, not the computers. For instance, the
standard QWERTY keyboard is a moderately good instrument
for entering exactly the letters which have been chosen to
make up a word and hence to construct sentences. Human
communication, however, is often most fluent in speech, and
so a computer that could understand spoken words
(preferably of all languages) and display them in a
standard format such as printed characters, would be far
easier to use, especially since the skills of speech exist
from an early age, but typing has to be learnt, often
painfully. All other human senses have similar analogies
when considering their use with tools. Pictures are easier
than words for us to digest quickly. A full range of sounds
provides more useful information than beeps and bells do.
It is easier to point at an item that we can see than to
specify it by name. All of these ideas had to wait until
the technology had advanced sufficiently to permit their
implementation in an efficient manner, that is, both fast
enough not to irritate the user and cheap enough for mass
production. The `state of the art' in VR consists of the
following. A pair of rather bulky goggles, which when worn
display two images of a computer-generated picture. The two
images differ slightly, one for each eye, and provide
stereo vision and hence a sense of depth. They change at
least fifty times per second, providing the brain with the
illusion of continuous motion (just as with television).
Attached to the goggles are a pair of conventional
high-quality headphones, fed from a computer-generated
sound source. Different delays in the same sound reaching
each ear provide a sense of aural depth. There is also a
pair of cumbersome gloves, rather like padded ice-hockey
gloves, which permit limited flexing in all natural
directions and feed information about the current position
of each hand and finger to a computer. All information from
the VR equipment is passed to the controlling computer and,
most importantly, all information perceived by the user is
generated by the computer. The last distinction is the
essence of the reality that is `virtual', or
computer-created, in VR. The second critical feature is
that the computer should be able to modify the information
sent to the user according to the information that it
received from the user. In a typical situation this might
involve drawing a picture of a room on the screens in the
goggles and superimposing upon it a picture of a hand,
which moves and changes shape just as the user's hand moves
and changes shape. Thus, the user moves his hand and sees
something that looks like a hand move in front of him.
 
The power of VR again lies in the flexibility of the
computer. Since the picture that is displayed need not be a
hand, but could in fact be any created object at all, one
of the first uses of VR might be to permit complex objects
to be manipulated on the screen as though they existed in a
tangible form. Representations of large molecules might be
grasped, examined from all sides and fitted to other
molecules. A building could be constructed from virtual
architectural components and then lit from differing angles
to consider how different rooms are illuminated. It could
even be populated with imaginary occupants and the human
traffic bottlenecks displayed as `hot spots' within the
building. One long-standing area of interest in VR has been
the simulation of military conflicts in the most realistic
form possible. The flight simulator trainers of the 1970's
had basic visual displays and large hydraulic rams to
actually move the trainee pilot as the real aeroplane would
have moved. This has been largely replaced in more modern
simulators by a massive increase in the amount of
information displayed on the screen, leading to the mind
convincing itself that the physical movements are
occurring, with reduced emphasis on attempts to provide the
actual movements. Such an approach is both cheaper in
equipment and more flexible in configuration, since
changing the the aeroplane from a fighter to a commercial
airliner need only involve changing the simulator's
program, not the hydraulics.
 
Escapism
 
Escapism can be rather loosely defined as the desire to be
in a more pleasant mental and physical state than the
present one. It is universal to human experience across all
cultures, ages and also across historical periods. Perhaps
for this reason, little quantitative data exists on how
much time is spent practicing some form of escapism and
only speculation as to why it should feel so important to
be able to do so. One line of thought would suggest that
all conscious thought is a form of escapism and that in
fact any activity that involves concentration on sensations
from the external world is a denial of our ability to
escape completely. This hypothesis might imply that all
thought is practice, in some sense, for situations that
might occur in the future. Thoughts about the past are only
of use for extrapolation into possible future scenarios.
 
However, this hypothesis fails to include the pleasurable
parts of escapist thinking, which may either be recalling
past experiences or, more importantly for this study, the
sense of security and safety that can exist within
situations that exist only in our minds. A more general
hypothesis would note the separate concepts of pleasure and
necessity as equally valid reasons for any thought. Can
particular traits in a person's character be identified
with a tendency to escapist thoughts that lead to patterns
of behaviour that are considered extreme by their society?
It seems unlikely that a combination of hereditary
intelligence and social or emotional deprivation can be the
only causes of such behaviour, but they are certainly not
unusual ones, judging by the common stereotypes of such
people.
 
The line of thinking that will be pursued throughout this
essay is the idea that a person who enjoys extreme forms of
escapist thoughts will often feel most comfortable with
machines in general and with computers in particular.
Certainly, excessive escapist tendencies have existed in
all societies and have been tolerated or more crucially,
made use of, in many different ways. For instance, apparent
absent-mindedness would be acceptable in a hunter/gatherer
society in the gatherers but not for a hunter. A society
with a wide-spread network of bartering would value a
combination of both the ability to plan a large exchange
and the interpersonal skills necessary to conclude a
barter, which are not particularly abstract. In a society
with complex military struggles, the need to plan and
imagine victories becomes an essential skill (for a
fraction of the combatants). Moving from the need for
abstract thought to its use, there is a scale of thought
required to use the various levels of machines that have
been mentioned earlier. A tool that has no electronics
usually has a function that is easy to perceive (for
example, a paperclip). A machine with a microprocessor
often has a larger range of possible uses and may require
an instruction manual telling the operator how to use it
(e.g. a modern washing machine or a television). Both of
these examples can be used without abstract thought, merely
trusting that they will do what they either obviously do,
or have been assured by the manual that they will do. The
next level is the use of computers as tools, for example,
for word-processing. Now a manual becomes essential and
some time will have to be spent before use of the tool is
habitual. Even then, many operations will remain difficult
and require some while to consider how to perform them. A
`feel' for the tool has to acquired before it can be used
effectively. The top level of complexity on this scale is
the use of computers as flexible tools and the construction
of the series of instructions known as programs to control
the operation of the computer. Escapist thoughts begin when
the operations of the programs have to be understood. In
many cases, it is either too risky or time-consuming to set
the programs into action without considering their likely
consequences (in minute detail) first. Such detailed
comprehension of the action of a program often requires the
person constructing the lists of instructions (the
programmer) to enter a separate world, where the symbols
and values of the program have their physical counterparts.
Variables take on emotional significance and routines have
their purpose described in graphic `action' language. A
cursory examination of most programmers' programs will
reveal this in the comments that are left to help them
understand each program's purpose. Interestingly, even
apparently unemotional people visualise their programs in
this anthropomorphic manner Weizenbaum76,Catt73 . Without
this ability to trace the action of a program before it is
performed in real life, the computing industry would cease
to exist. This ability is so closely related to what we do
naturally and call `escapism', that the two have begun to
merge for many people involved in the construction of
programs. For some, what began as work has become what is
done for pleasurable relaxation, which is a fortunate
discovery for large computer-related businesses. The need
for time-clocks and foremen has been largely eliminated,
since the workers look forward to coming to work, often to
escape the mundane aspect of reality. There are problems
associated with this form of work motivation. One major
discovery is that it can be difficult to work as a team in
this kind of activity. Assigning each programmer a section
of the project is the usual solution, but maintaining a
coherent grasp of the project's state then becomes
increasingly difficult. Indeed, this problem means that
there are now computers whose design cannot be completely
understood by one person MMMonth . Misunderstandings that
result from this problem and the inherent ambiguities of
human languages are often the cause of long delays in
completion of projects involving computers. (The current
statistics are that cost over-runs of 300 are not uncommon,
especially for larger projects and time over-runs of 50 are
common SWEng ). Another common problem is that of developed
social inadequacy amongst groups of programmers and their
businesses. The awkwardness of communicating complex ideas
to other (especially non-technical) members of the group
can lead them to avoid other people in person and to
communicate solely by messages and manuals (whether
electronic or paper). Up to now, most absorption of the
information necessary to `escape' in this fashion has been
from a small number of sources located in an environment
full of other distractions. The introduction of Virtual
Reality, especially with regard to the construction of
programs, will eliminate many of these external
distractions. In return, it will provide a `concentrated'
version of the world in which the programmer is working.
The flexible nature of VR means that abstract objects such
as programs can be viewed in reality (on the goggles'
screens) in any format at all. Most likely, they will be
viewed in a manner that is significant for each individual
programmer, corresponding to how he or she views programs
when they have escaped into the world that contains them.
Thus, what were originally only abstract thoughts in one
human mind can now be made real and repeatable and may be
distributed in a form that has meaning for other people.
The difference between this and books or paintings is the
amount of information that can be conveyed and the
flexibility with which it can be constructed.
 
The Dangers of Virtual Reality
 
As implied above, the uses of Virtual Reality can be
understood in two ways. Firstly, VR can be viewed as a more
effective way of communicating concepts, abstract or
concrete, to other people. For example, as a teaching tool,
a VR interface to a database of operation techniques would
permit a surgeon to try out different approaches on the
same simulated patient or to teach a junior basic
techniques. An architect might use a VR interface to allow
clients to walk around a building that exists only in the
design stage ArchieMag . Secondly, VR can be used as a
visualisation tool for each individual. Our own preferences
could be added to a VR system to such an extent that anyone
else using it would be baffled by the range of personalised
symbols and concepts. An analogy to this would be
redefining all the keys on a typewriter for each typist.
This would be a direct extension of our ability to conceive
objects, since the machine would deal with much of the
tedious notation and the many symbols currently necessary
in complex subjects such as nuclear physics. In this form,
VR would provide artificial support for a human mind's
native abilities of construct building and imagination. It
is the second view of VR, and derivations from it, that are
of concern to many experts. On a smaller scale, the
artificial support of mental activities has shown that once
support is available, the mind tends to become lazy about
developing what is already present. The classic case of
this is, of course, electronic calculators. The basic
tedious arithmetic that is necessary to solve a complicated
problem in physics or mathematics is the same whether
performed by machine or human, and in fact plays very
little part in understanding (or discovering) the concepts
that lie behind the problem. However, if the ability to
perform basic arithmetic at the lowest level is neglected,
then the ability to cope with more complex problems does
seem to be impaired in some fashion. Another example is the
ability to spell words correctly. A mis-spelt word only
rarely alters the semantic content of a piece of writing,
yet obvious idleness or inability in correct use of the
small words used to construct larger concepts often leaves
the reader with a sense of unease as to the validity of the
larger concept. Extending the examples, a worrying
prediction is that the extensive use of VR to support our
own internal visualisations of concepts would reduce our
ability to perform abstract and escapist thoughts without
the machine's presence. This would be evident in a massive
upsurge in computer-related entertainment, both in games
and interactive entertainment and would be accompanied by a
reduction of the appreciation and study of written
literature, since the effort required to imagine the
contents would be more than was considered now reasonable.
Another danger of VR is its potential medical applications.
If a convincing set of images and sound can be collected,
it might become possible to treat victims of trauma or
brain-injured people by providing a `safe' VR environment
for them to recover in. As noted Whalley , there are
several difficult ethical decisions associated with this
sort of work. Firstly, the decision to disconnect a
chronically disturbed patient from VR would become
analogous to removing pain-killers from a patient in
chronic pain. Another problem is that since much of what we
perceive as ourselves is due to the way that we react to
stimuli, whatever the VR creator defines as the available
stimuli become the limiting extent of our reactions. Our
individuality would be reduced and our innate human
flexibility with it. To quote Whalley Whalley directly,
quote `` virtual reality devices may possess the potential
to distort substantially [those] patients' own perceptions
of themselves and how others see them. Such distortions may
persist and may not necessarily be universally welcomed. In
our present ignorance about the lasting effects of these
devices, it is certainly impossible to advise anyone, not
only mental patients, of the likely hazards of their use."
quote Following on from these thoughts, one can imagine
many other abuses of VR. `Mental anaesthesia' or `permanent
calming' could be used to control long-term inmates of
mental institutions. A horrendous form of torture by
deprivation of reality could be imagined, with a victim
being forced to perceive only what the torturers choose as
reality. Users who experienced VR at work as a tool may
chose to use it as a recreational drug, much as television
is sometimes used today, and just as foreseen in the
`feelies' of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World BNW .
 
Conclusions
 
Computers are now an accepted part of many peoples' working
lives and yet still retain an aura of mystery for many who
use them. Perhaps the commonest misapprehension is to
perceive them as an inflexible tool; once a machine is
viewed as a word processor, it can be awkward to have to
redefine it in our minds as a database, full of information
ordered in a different fashion. Some of what people find
difficult to use about today's machines will hopefully be
alleviated by the introduction of Virtual Reality
interfaces. These should allow us to deal with computers in
a more intuitive manner. If there ever comes a time when it
is necessary to construct a list of tests to distinguish VR
from reality, some of the following observations might be
of use. The most difficult sense to deceive over a long
period of time will probably be that of vision. The part of
the human brain that deals with vision processing uses
depth of focus as one of its mechanisms to interpret
distances. Flat screens cannot provide this without a
massive amount of processing to deliberately bring the
object that the eyes are focussed upon into a sharper
relief than its surroundings. Since this is unlikely to be
economical in the near future, the uniform appearance of VR
will remain an indication of its falsehood. Another sign
may be the lack of tactile feedback all over the body.
Whilst most tactile information, such as the sensation of
wearing a watch on one's wrist, is ignored by the brain, a
conscious effort of detection will usually reveal its
presence. Even the most sophisticated feedback mechanisms
will be hard-pressed to duplicate such sensations or the
exact sensations of an egg being crushed or walking
barefoot on pebbles, for example. The sense of smell may
prove to be yet another tell-tale sign of reality. The
human sense of smell is so subtle (compared to our present
ability to recreate odours) and is interpreted constantly,
though we are often unaware of it, that to mimic the myriad
smells of life may be too complex to ever achieve
convincingly. The computer industry will continue to depend
upon employees who satisfy some part of their escapist
needs by programming for pleasure. In the near future, the
need for increased efficiency and better estimates of the
duration of projects may demand that those who spend their
hours escaping are organised by those who do not. This
would lead to yet another form of stratification within a
society, namely, the dreamers (who are in fact now the
direct labour force) and their `minders'. It should also
encourage societies to value the power of abstract thought
more highly, since direct reward will be seen to come from
it. Virtual Reality is yet another significant shift in the
way that we can understand both what is around us and what
exists only in our minds. A considerable risk associated
with VR is that our flexibility as human beings means that
we may adapt our thoughts to our tool, instead of the other
way round. Though computers and our interaction with them
by VR is highly flexible, this flexibility is as nothing
compared to the potential human range of actions.
 
Glossary 
 
Chip for microchip, the small black tile-like objects that
make 

electronic machines. 

Computer machine with a microprocessor and an interface that
 
permits 

by the user. 

Database collection of information stored on a computer
which permits. 

to the information in several ways, rather like having
multiple 

in a book. 

Email mail. Text typed into one machine can be transferred 

to another remote machine. 

Microprocessor stand-alone computer, with little option for
change by the user. 

Program series of instructions to control the operation of
a microprocessor. 

Risk often unforeseen dangers of applying computer-related
technology 

new applications. 

Stand-alone to the rest of the electronic world. 

User human who uses the machine or computer. 

VDU Display Unit. The television-like screen attached to a
computer. 

Virtual to mean `imaginary' or `existing only inside a
computer' 

VR Reality. Loosely, an interface to any computer that 

the user to use the computer in a more `involved' fashion. 

Word processor application of a computer to editing and
printing text. 
 
Clocks 
 
L. Mumford,
 
Technics and Civilisation ,
 
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, 1963, pp.13--15.
 
Babbage 

J.M. Dubbey,
 
The Mathematical Work of Charles Babbage ,
 
Cambridge University Press, 1978.
 
EarlyIBM 
 
William Aspray,
 
Computing Before Computers ,
 
Iowa State University press, 1990.
 
Turing 

B.E. Carpenter and R.W. Doras (Editors),
 
A.M. Turing's ACE report of 1946 and other papers ,
 
The MIT Press, 1980.
 
Bletchley 
 
David Kahn,
 
The Codebreakers ,
 
London, Sphere, 1978
 
JapanSord 

Takeo Miyauchi,
 
The Flame from Japan ,
 
SORD Computer Systems Inc., 1982.
 
Graphs 
 
J.L. Hennessy and D.A. Patterson,
 
Morgan Kaufmann, California, 1990.
 
phones 
 
Amos E. Joel,
 
the World ,
 
Wiley, 1982.
 
comp.risks 

comp.risks , a moderated bulletin board available
world-wide on computer
 
networks. Its purpose is the discussion of computer-related
risks.