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J-L Sparrow Regular user 167 Posts |
Recently I was going through Google Books' archives of old "Boys' Life" magazines. Looking for old Magic articles by Bill Severn, I happened across this article titled "Carlyle and the Computer" in an old September 1976 issue (two pages, starting on page 28).
You can read it here: http://books.google.com/books?id=ObxX2ya......&f=false Brief synopsis: The principal of a school is excited because the school has a new computer, which will increase efficiency. However, a mistake on a computer-generated class schedule causes a student to be assigned to the wrong class. And because the computer error isn't easy to fix, he has to find a way to live with the mistake. It seems that this article is a work of fiction, so I can't use it as an actual anecdote of how life with computers was like back in the mid 70s. But it does give us a fascinating glimpse on how computers were viewed and perceived back then. I especially like the quote: Quote:
A mistake is a mistake -- except when a computer makes it; then a human brain has to take over. I find that quote as true today as it was back then. (But so easily we forget that these days!) |
Tony Iacoviello Eternal Order 13151 Posts |
"as it was back then."
Thanks for making me feel ancient. |
J-L Sparrow Regular user 167 Posts |
Heh...
You and me both, Tony. |
Tony Iacoviello Eternal Order 13151 Posts |
In 1977, I tried to convince my boss to purchase a computer for the company. We were a restaraunt supply company with large inventories of food products (with expiration dates). Radio Shack had just announced the TRS-80, and I was a programming student. His answer was, "I used computers in the Army, they cannot help a business". I shook my head.
My, how times have changed. |
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