Will computers control humans in the future? People always tend to seek the easyway out looking for something that would make their lives easier. Machines andtools have given us the ability to do more in less time giving us, at the sametime, more comfort. As the technology advances, computers become faster and morepowerful. These new machines are enabling us to do more in less time making ourlives easier. The increased use of computers in the future, however, might havenegative results and impact on our lives.
In the novel Nine Tomorrows IsaacAsimov often criticizes our reliance on computers by portraying a futuristicworld where computers control humans. One of the images which Asimov describesin the book is that humans might become too dependent on computers. In one ofthe stories, Profession, Asimov writes about people being educated by computerprograms designed to educate effortlessly a person. According to the Professionstory people would no longer read books to learn and improve their knowledge. People would rely on the computers rather than “try to memorize enough tomatch someone else who knows” (Nine Tomorrows, Profession 55). People wouldnot chose to study, they would only want to be educated by computer tapes.
Putting in knowledge would take less time than reading books and memorizingsomething that would take almost no time using a computer in the futuristicworld that Asimov describes. Humans might began to rely on computers and allowthem to control themselves by letting computers educate people. Computers wouldstart teaching humans what computers tell them without having any choice ofcreativity. Computer ould start to control humans lives and make humansbecome too dependent on the computers.
Another point that is criticized byAsimov is the fact that people might take their knowledge for granted allowingcomputers to take over and control their lives. In a story called The Feeling ofPower, Asimov portrays how people started using computers to do even simplemathematical calculations. Over a long period of time people became so reliableon computers that they forgot the simplest multiplication and division rules. Ifsomeone wanted to calculate an answer they would simply use their pocketcomputer to do that (The Feeling of Power 77). People became too independentfrom the start making them forget what they have learned in the past. People inthe story The Feeling of Power would take for granted what they have learnedover centuries of learning and chose computers because of their ability to dotheir work faster.
The lack of manual mathematics, which people chose to forgetin the story, caused computers to be the ones to solve simple mathematicsproblems for the p le taking control of the humans by doing the work for them(The Feeling of Power 81-82). The reliance of computers went to such an extentthat even Humans began to use computers in all fields of study and work allowingcomputers to control their lives by taking over and doing everything for them. According to another story in the book, Asimov also describes how computerswould be able to predict probabilities of an event, future. In the story All theTroubles of the World one big computer predicted crime before it even happened,allowing the police to take the person who was going to commit the crime andrelease him/her after the danger has passed (All The Troubles of The World144-145).
This computer, called Multivac, controlled humans by telling theauthorities about who was going to commit a crime causing someone to beimprisoned until the danger has passed. It was the computer that made thedecision of someones freedom or imprisonment and that controlled others toarrest a person it suspected of committing a crime controlling his/her destiny. The decision of imprisoning someone for a crime a person did not commit was allin the hands of a computer. It was the computer that controlled humans and theirdestiny and controlling other humans who believed in everything that computertold them. Multivac could not only predict the future but it also could answermany questions that would normally embarrass people if they would have to asksomeone else about it.
Multivac could access its vast database of trillions ofpieces of knowledge and find the best solution for ones problem (All TheTroubles of The World 153). All the people believed that Multivac knows the bestand allowed a computer to control their lives by following the solutionsMultivac had given them (All the Troubles of The World 153). Humans followed acomputers solution to a problem they could not solve themselves allowing acomputer to take control over their lives not allowing them to think forthemselves. In the Nine Tomorrows, Isaac Asimov often criticizes our reliance oncomputers. The author predicts that computers will increase their role in thefuture while the technology advances. Computers will become faster and peoplewill want to use them more to make their lives easier.
Yet, just like to anygood side there is a bad side. Asimov reflects in his writing that humans mightdepend on the computers so much that they will allow them to control theirlives.
