I would agree with Patrick and say that computers are a tool- they allow
us to communicate our ideas and thoughts, their software (search engines)
allows us to locate specific data in a very sensistive way, but they
cannot tell us whether the information we are searching for, reading or
writing is true. We the people have to decide for ourselves what is true
and then communicate those beliefs or find like-minded supporters- we can
use computers to help us do this, but they are just a means to an end.
Its a bit like the knowledge versus information argument- information is
okay but it needs to be applicable and truthful for it to be truly
valauble- knowledge. Computers can give us information, but humans need to
interpret it for it to become useful knowledge. Computers cannot
unfortunately confer intelligence and learning- people have to master that
themselves.
regards simon buckingham http://www.unorg.com/customerservice.htm
> The question was asked
>
> > Will computers give us mastery over information?
>
> Probably not - how will they ever discriminate between accurate vs.
> inaccurate information, say, on the Internet (or in any sizable
> information repository).
>
> Of course, it all depends on what the scope of "us" is (all mankind?),
> what "mastery" looks like, and whether it's all the information that is at
> our disposal (the Internet for a start).
>
> Patrick Sue
> psue@inforamp.net
--Simon Buckingham <go57@dial.pipex.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>