A computer should know the difference between “Kissinger” and “kissing her,” not because it can find the small acoustic difference, but because it can understand the meaning. That’s good interface design. The burden of interaction today has been placed totally on the shoulders of the human party. Something as banal as printing a computer file can be a debilitating exercise that resembles voodoo more than respectable human behavior. As a result, many adults are turned off and claim to be hopelessly computer illiterate. This will change.
Predictor: Negroponte, Nicholas
Prediction, in context:In his 1995 book “Being Digital,” Nicholas Negroponte writes: ”Using a computer 30 years ago, like piloting a moon lander, was the realm of a precious few schooled in the hocus-pocus needed to drive these machines … In my opinion, there was a subconscious effort to keep it mysterious, like the monopoly of the monks or some bizarre religious rite in the Dark Ages. We are still paying that price today … The challenge for the decade is not just to give people bigger screens, better sound quality, and easier-to-use graphical input devices. It is to make computers that know you, learn about your needs, and understand verbal and nonverbal languages. A computer should know the difference between ‘Kissinger’ and ‘kissing her,’ not because it can find the small acoustic difference, but because it can understand the meaning. That’s good interface design. The burden of interaction today has been placed totally on the shoulders of the human party. Something as banal as printing a computer file can be a debilitating exercise that resembles voodoo more than respectable human behavior. As a result, many adults are turned off and claim to be hopelessly computer illiterate. This will change.”
Biography:Nicholas Negroponte, a co-founder of MIT’s Media Lab and a popular speaker and writer about technologies of the future, wrote one of the 1990s’ best-selling books about the new future of communications, “Being Digital.” (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: February 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Language/Interface/Software
Name of publication: Being Digital (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 7: Where People and Bits Meet
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 90, 92
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne