In a few years, men will be able to communicate more effectively through a machine than face to face. That is a rather startling thing to say, but it is our conclusion.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that technological advances will enhance machine communication to a point where it surpasses human interaction.
J. C. R. Licklider's quote expresses a visionary perspective on the future of communication, indicating that technological advancements will enable machines to facilitate communication in ways that are more effective than traditional face-to-face interactions. This implies a significant transformation in how people relate and interact, raising questions about the implications of machine-mediated communication on personal connections and social dynamics.
In practice
In a tech seminar discussing the future of AI-enhanced communication.
The hope is that, in not too many years, human brains and computing machines will be coupled together very tightly, and that the resulting partnership will think as no human brain has ever thought and process data in a way not approached by the information-handling machines we know today.
I have always been convinced that the only way to get artificial intelligence to work is to do the computation in a way similar to the human brain. That is the goal I have been pursuing. We are making progress, though we still have lots to learn about how the brain actually works.
In our interconnected world, novel technology could empower just one fanatic, or some weirdo with a mindset of those who now design computer viruses, to trigger some kind of disaster. Indeed, catastrophe could arise simply from technical misadventure - error rather than terror.
Somehow in the last 100 years, every time there is a problem of getting more spectrum, there is a technology that comes along that solves that problem.
Type 'What is th' and faster than you can find the 'e' Google is sending choices back at you: 'What is the cloud?' 'What is the mean?' 'What is the American dream?' 'What is the illuminati?' Google is trying to read your mind. Only it's not your mind. It's the World Brain.
Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life.
At our computer club, we talked about it being a revolution. Computers were going to belong to everyone, and give us power, and free us from the people who owned computers and all that stuff.
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