“The computer has long been a solution looking for problems—the ultimate technological fix which insulates us from having to look at problems.”

“Computers enable fantasies” – On the continued relevance of Weizenbaum’s warnings

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2023-01-27 07:30:05

“The computer has long been a solution looking for problems—the ultimate technological fix which insulates us from having to look at problems.” – Joseph Weizenbaum (1983)

Trying to keep up with all of the news surrounding current happenings in the world of computers is overwhelming, to put it mildly. Even more so if you are trying to separate the hype and hope from the more banal realities. And, in this moment, this is made still more complicated by the way that many of the places you might turn to for information seem to themselves be awash in things like AI generated images and screenshots of text responses from ChatGPT. And though there is nothing particularly new about conversations and questions regarding the implications of this or that new program or platform—the present moment seems to be another period in which such discussions are difficult to ignore.

And though these discussions are not always put explicitly in the terms of “what will this mean for us?” that seems to be the question percolating just under the surface in much of the moment’s discourse. Or, to put it slightly differently:

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