Blog Entry 3.2

            Humans with the assistance of computers by their side are more efficient than only a human or computer by themselves. In this day in age, vehicles now have the ability to parallel park itself. There are bookshelves of videos on the internet that can be used as a walk-through for nearly all problems that may occur. Even video games now have the ability to assist the players to beat the game. This comes to show that computers by the side of humans make any situation easier than just a human or computer by itself.

            The article “The Cyborg Advantage” by Clive Thompson is about how individuals are coming to rationalize that the use of computers by the side of humans prevails over a human or computer by itself. Garry Kasparov played a match of chess with a supercomputer called Deep Blue. Through endless lightning speed calculations, the bot won; humans cannot perform that process as fast a computer. In 2005, neither Kasparov nor the supercomputer won a “freestyle” online chess tournament. It was a bunch of amateurs using applications that assisted them during the match. There is a major debate about the use of computers between individuals who love the use of computers and the old-timers who do not.

            As a professional driver, I support the use of computers for the simple reason that it makes my life easier. The new cars that are being developed are now equipped with automatic parallel parking. In a perfect scenario, these cars can parallel park themselves. My judgment comes into play when I feel the vehicle is not capable of parking due to tight spots, objects in the way, etc. If this was to happen, that is when I would have to use my professional experience to park the car. That is why the judgment of humans on when to use the assistance prevails in many situations.

            Back in 90’s, if you had a computer with a problem, you would have called a technician to service it or send it in for repair. In the present time, computers with a problem now notifies the owner about the issue and asks you whether you want it to repair itself. Individuals are now starting to realize that it’s more convenient to have this assistance the computers now offer.

            Technology plays a major role in my life. My touch-screen cell phone, which has an actual keyboard on it, has the ability to use an application that allows you to use a virtual keyboard. Instead of just trying to figure how to install that application, I resorted to the use of “youtube.com”. On that website, I found a tutorial on how to install the application I needed in order to use the virtual keyboard. Not only did the use of the tutorial from “youtube.com” save me time, but it also saved me from frustration in which I would have had.

            Video game developers have improvised by developing such software that includes assistance to the player if he wants it. As a gamer, this could be helpful at times. In a certain situation which I was not able to pass a certain point of the game, the help of this assistance came into play. If this assistance was never developed, I would have been overwhelmed with frustration and that game would have ended at the bottom of the pile of games I own. It is also a good idea they developed this because if a second part of that game was too made in the future, the chance of me getting it would have been slim to none. So I would like to thank the great video game developers because I beat the game due to their intelligence.

            The assistant of computers along the side of humans is defiantly a plus. This is being realized by all from car engineers, all the way to video game developers. Sooner or later, all of the old-timers that opposed the use of computers among the side of humans will realized it too.