Module 10

                "Wow" is all I have to say after reading "A Logic Named Joe". I could not believe it was written way back in 1946. The first thing that came to mind was that this was to the people in 1946 what Terminator was to the people in the 1980's. I can only imagine what would go through the authors mind if we brought him to our time and introduced him to our logic named "Google". It's astonishing to me that so much of what these "logics" did in the short story, can be done here and now. It may not be as extreme as the story describes but it sure does make you think. If we're already this close to what the story describes, how much longer until we have computers that are capable of such processing power? We already to this day have super computers used to simulate epidemics and predict the outcomes of natural disasters. Just the other day I found a organization that offered extreme discounts for video cards. Their only requirement was that you run their software when your computer is not in use. What their software did was actually use your processing power in line with thousands of other computers to generate possible cures for cancer, and it only ran while you were away. That is pretty amazing, it reminds me of the "tanks" the story refers to. If we are at a point where we can outsource to Personal Computers to do the combine work of a super computers, imagine what's next! The concepts in this story must have seemed so far out and impossible at the time it was written but we can see it actually happening. Computers can literally do anything now and I think it's natural to feel afraid of it at times because we are becoming aware of just how amazing science and technology have become and just how fast it has arrived.

                The concept of Joe being self aware is interesting to me. How the logic was able to predict that it was smarter than the others so it pretended to be normal to get past inspection. That thought alone would ruin a lot of paranoid people! Could you imagine if your smart phone was secretly plotting your demise by pretending to be normal only to get your information and stab you in the back. Like I stated earlier, this story is much like Terminator. Instead of "Joe" you have "Skynet" they're both computers that became self aware and acted on it logically because that is all they know.

                I believe in the future of technology and I'm extremely excited to see just how it evolves. Who knows, maybe one day it will be the end of us. Mankind, brought down by its own creation. It surely would be an epic way to go! Thank you for reading, have a great night.