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From: parnass@ihu1h.UUCP (Bob Parnass, AJ9S)
Newsgroups: net.college,net.flame
Subject: Re: Does someone REALLY belive this?
Message-ID: <393@ihu1h.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 7-Nov-84 09:12:59 EST
Article-I.D.: ihu1h.393
Posted: Wed Nov  7 09:12:59 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 9-Nov-84 06:21:56 EST
References: <1668@ucf-cs.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 54

>  
>  []
>  
>  A letter to the editor. "The Orlando Sentinel" Monday, November 5, 1984
>  Page A-14:
>  
>  TIME TO USE YOUR BRAINS
>  
>  THE BRAIN, the most specialized and intricate organ in the body, is
>  being abused.  We just are not using it any more.  Machines are doing
>  our thinking for us.
>  
>  Computers are one of the problems.  They were designed to take the load
>  of facts and figures off our backs.  Instead, they are practically doing
>  all the thinking for us.  
 			......  
>  Why don't we start calculating what these machines are doing?  If we don't,
>  we may have scientific and sophisticated equipment with no one knowledgeable
>  enough to use it.
>  
>            Helen Alexander
>            Winter Park
>  
>  
>  Well? Any comments? By the way, Winter Park is a small town north of Orlando,
>  mostly suburb and 'higher income'.  I personally would like to ask this lady
>  to multiply two 100X100 matrices together, and see which year she gets them
>  done....(;->) 
 			......  
>  Ken Hollis

	Ken, I agree with the woman who authored the article. I think 
	you have misinterpreted her suggestion,
	based on her use of the phrase "start calculating..."

	The fact that she lives in one town rather than another
	not pertinent to the thought expressed. Let's discuss
	the point on its own merits, please.

	Now to the point:
	I think the heavy use of the simple calculator
	has displaced the ability to perform simple arithmetic.

	If you doubt this, just watch the young clerks in the store 
	try to perform a calculation manually when the electronic 
	cash register is out of order. It's embarrassing!


	P.S. - I'm not anti-technology, and
	have more than a slight passing interest
	in computers and electronics :-)
-- 
===============================================================================
Bob Parnass,  Bell Telephone Laboratories - ihnp4!ihu1h!parnass - (312)979-5414