Although every sub-process is a process in its own right, in that it consists of further sub-processes, there seems to be no point here in looking for the ultimate bottom of the process-hierarchical structure. There seems to be no way of telling whether or not the apparent bottoms (processes that cannot be further subdivided) exist in the physical world or in the limitations of human understanding.
-Doug Engelbart
Above is a quoted passage from the article that I found to be very interesting. In this article, it is suggested that intelligence is not limited and to improve human intelligence in order to understand and solve problems in a better and faster way, we must understand the framework or “processes” that build our knowledge. Each process is considered a sub-process to another, where all of these processes are interrelated and interdependent with one another. I visualized the domino effect, where “A” effects “B”. “B” effects “C”, so on and so forth.
What is very compelling is to wonder how far we can go in dissecting problems to their core and whether or not it is inevitably in our fate that we cannot unravel all of the world’s mysteries. Surely, we strive to make new and efficient progresses as we transition from one era of human intelligence to another. The essence of human existence is that we are in a race to improve. But with whom is the race? The natural world?
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I found that many people had in common the excerpt they chose to base their nugget on. This excerpt: “Man’s population and gross product are increasing…in response to the increased rate of activity and the increasingly global nature of that activity” indeed pointed out the nature of human progress. Every solution yields a compound of new problems, and so the cycle continues. I still imagine the domino effect when I read this passage. This student discusses the cellphone for example. The cellphone when premature was created for the sole purpose of using a telecommunication device while being mobile. He discusses the model based off convenience, in this case the cellphone being small enough to fit in our pockets. He then mapped out some advancements that were made due to growing demand and increased technologies that were created as a complement to the device, such as cosmetic improvements and better functioning operating systems with applications growing at a very fast rate. Similarly this post points out the fact that humans are constantly trying to improve and his example effectively demonstrates this fact.
Another student discusses whether or not technology is skewing the way we interact with the world. He explains how technology has luxuriously provided us with information that is very accessible to the general public but the fast rate in which we can do this has also caused the speed in which we operate to increase tremendously. There is a conflict of interest when we consider advancements in technology, and that is whether or not it is really aiding us or inadvertently harming us. I liked this article and will refer to it because there are some interesting points to think about here.
This student had a very interesting parallel to one of Engelbart’s passages from his article. She suggests that the use of Adderall is comparable to the proposed method of “augmenting human intellect” in which we are taking use of an external stimulant, whether the aid of an information system, or the consumption of pharmaceutical drugs that increase cognition, comprehension and information processing.
