“Ours is the age which is proud of machines that think, and suspicious of men who try to.” Howard Mumford Jones
“We are very close to making what God made into a machine, and making what man has made into a human being. Example: A computer has a virus, while a child who may have difficulty in school has a glitch.” Bill Cosby
Abstract
THE INCREASING SUCCESS of the computer has encouraged the use of computer-oriented language and mind-computer comparisons. The computational metaphor—the comparison of the mind/brain to the program/computer and the program/computer to the mind/brain—is now the dominant intellectual tool of many of the behavioral sciences. With the success of the computer, there have also been increased reports of computer-related physical disorders and psycho-social dysfunctions among computer users and workers. This paper argues that the human-computer relationship has become problematic, and the major reason for this is that people are confused about what is human and what is machine. The computational metaphor has so captured the imagination of some that they reject the present less-than-perfect world of the self and others for the perfect future world of the computer. The problem is exacerbated by the acceptance of the computational metaphor by many of those treating and educating these computer users and workers. Some scientists and thinkers have begun to explore and suggest alternative metaphors to better understand human intelligence and organizations and to improve the teaching of students' thinking skills. However, the computational metaphor cannot be easily dismissed. It has formidable theoretical and scientific support, as witnessed by the strength of the artificial intelligence movement and the unresolved AI debate. This paper concludes that the new discipline of computer criticism offers the beginning of a resolution to the issue by locating the computer and the computational metaphor within the larger context of cultural language and thought.
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Ronald Biron received his doctorate in Educational Leadership from the School of Education at Boston University in 1992. His interest in the human-computer relationship evolved from his experiences as a database manager in higher education. His dissertation on Roger Penrose's book,The Emperor's New Mind, assesses Penrose's argument against artificial intelligence and examines its implication for the crititcal thinking movement. Related topics which he is currently pursuing include the philosophy and psychology of the mind and computer ethics.
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Biron, R.M. The computational metaphor and computer criticism. J. Comput. High. Educ. 5, 111–131 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02954535
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02954535