51动漫

The 鈥榯hinking鈥� machine

Anyone who has made even a casual study of the UK鈥檚 national insurance system will appreciate that its administration is a big undertaking. The country鈥檚 national insurance records comprise record sheets for 26 million people weighing 190 tons, occupying five miles of shelves and a floor area of five acres. Because of this the government is considering ways in which electronic computers could be applied to the work that currently employs 6000 clerks in the Newcastle-upon-Tyne branch alone.

The major drawback, however, to any electronic system of such vastness and complexity is that the data needs intelligent staff to interpret it and this cannot be carried out by a moronic automated machine, as electronic computers are often described. So the government鈥檚 study group is working on the idea of a machine which can build up its own experience and act on it 鈥� it 鈥渓earns鈥� as it goes along. Such a machine is a possibility, and would be more efficient than human clerks. Thus it is that the dull business of dealing with national insurance is leading to the practical and useful realisation of the 鈥渋ntelligent鈥�, 鈥渢hinking鈥� machine.

And for those who are alarmed at the possibility of thousands of clerks being thrown out of work overnight, or horrified at the idea of machines thinking more efficiently than humans, knowledge of the practical difficulties facing the development of such machines will show them what the experts already know 鈥� its introduction will take many years to begin and to complete.

The clerk should prepare to take part in an evolutionary process in which patterns of work will change gradually but radically, and in which work for both the clerk and the clerk鈥檚 sons and daughters will be more worthy of the human brain than today鈥檚 routine clerical tasks, demanding more from them but being ultimately more satisfying in return.

From The 51动漫, 9 May 1957