COMPUTER LIB/ DREAM MACHINES

I must put it out there that the article was pretty intense and a bit difficult to read, but as an overall view, it was quite interesting learning new things about the computer that I was not thought about.

Reading Ted Nelson's article, the concept I got from it was the introduction of computer knowledge and how its medium should be learnt and used by everyone. In order to appreciate this article, one must set himself or herself back into the times of 1973, to truly understand why Nelson states that the computers are really dream machines.

The subtitle "You can and must understand computers NOW". Emphasizes on the fact that everyday people as Nelson says, must know how to use computers because they give you a better understanding of the world today and how it operates. Almost anything if not everything, is operated by the computer and it would be very difficult for the person that doesn’t know how to use the computer to view the world the way we see it today. From experience I can agree that computer plays a big role in our lives today. I remember my first time when I was learning to use the computer and after how I was teaching my dad. It is quite embarrassing, to tell you the fact that my dad could not use the computer, but this was because in his old days computer was not popularly used and one did not need the computer technology to access information or as a means of going by in society.

The main focal point of Nelson’s article is how to make computers easily accessible to ordinary people so that they will not suffer as much as they did in the ancient times. Further in the article Ted Nelson talks about the programmers and how they tend to make things seem more complicated than they really are. He states that user interface should be so simple that a beginner in an emergency can understand it within ten seconds. Which brings us back to the main idea of this article, his teachings and recognition of the computer world well before it actually started. However, computers have taken over our world, in the sense that absolutely no one can function without the help of the computer technology. Then again, this help with computers has its negative and positive sides, but I will not get into that now.

Even though Nelson saw the new generation as technology base, he points out the consequences of how people might not understand the technical aspects of it. He tries to inform and explain the process of learning about the computer decisions and how it relates to today’s world.