THE FRUSTRATING SERVANT

Computers and computer related instruments drive many of us crazy.  When they work like they are supposed to, they are obedient servants that perform tasks we cannot. 

Computers compute.  They compute at speeds we cannot image.  Hence, they can process millions of calculations in less time than it takes for us to give them the task.  Computers spend a lot of time waiting – waiting for us to type in an instruction or click on a key telling them what to do next.

Many people find it difficult to co-exist with the computers in their lives.  They throw up their hands and exclaim in disgust, “I don’t understand computers; won’t have one in my house.”

The problem with that statement is that computers are now found in so many parts of our lives that we dare not try to fool ourselves that we don’t understand them and won’t have one in the house.  We already have them in our houses and in our lives.  Modern homes with climate control systems are controlled by one or more computers in the heating system and in the temperature control module on the hall wall.  Modern cars will not operate without their numerous internal computers, most of which we don’t know exist … until they cease to function.  The ubiquitous cell phones, now in nearly every purse or pocket, are simply portable computers that perform multiple functions, sometimes the least of which is to make and receive phone messages.

And therein lays the problem: we ask modern devices to perform multiple tasks.

We long for the good old days.  We want to equate the computer and all the computer devices to the simple telephone.  “I did not have to know how the telephone works to make a phone call.  I just picked up the received, dialed my number, waited for the person on the other end to pick up, and the talked.”

Actually, if you re-read that last sentence, you will see that you did have to know how the phone worked.  You had to perform several tasks for the phone before it could perform for you.  But that aside, the phone was mostly a single function implement.  Modern computers, especially those cell phones we have all come to rely on, are multi-function devices.

As with all tools and electronic equipment, it is incumbent upon us to understand how the tool works, not the other way around.  A simple telephone on the wall in the kitchen will not work for you until you pick it up and go through the correct dialing procedure.  Computers in all forms require that we learn how they think, how they do what they do.  They have an algorithm for each task they perform.  That will not change regardless of how often we swear or throw them across the room.  We must learn how the computer, the cell phone, the iPad, or whatever thinks.  These pieces of computer equipment will never learn how we think.

Computers are obedient servants, performing task that are beyond human comprehension sometimes and certainly beyond human ability.  Nevertheless, they can be frustrating servants.  The difference between most of us and the computer geeks we know (our grandchildren) is that they have taken the time to understand what their computer can and cannot do.  When we adults recognize that, we will be on the road to understanding (and enjoying) the various computers in our lives.