The Integration Of Man And Machine

The question of what might happen if man builds a machine to break the “thought barrier” has occupied the attention of many people for quite a few years now. In 1920 Karel Capek wrote a play, which ultimately hit Broadway, entitled “R.U.R.” (Rossum’s Universal Robots). In this play the “robots” (Capek invented the word) ultimately developed to a point where they wiped out the human race. Pope Pius XII commented on automation in 1957. 1 More recently, a medical man, E. P. Luongo, wrote on “Automation and the Obsolescence of Man.” 2 Frank Rosenblatt, father of the Perceptron, one of the most interesting and recent machines that may someday really think, received this headline for his trouble “Frankenstein Monster Planned by Navy—Robot That Can Think.” 3 Ever since the Luddite riots in England in 1810 and 1812, in protest against the introduction of power looms in textile mills, workers have reacted to automation with fear. Automation was then over 25 years old since Oliver Evans built his process flour mill near Philadelphia in 1784. Even conservative figures and estimates are indicative of an adjustment we face in the future. Ewan Clague 4 estimates that unskilled labor will comprise only 10 percent of the work force by 1975, as compared with 20 percent in 1950. Unskilled work at this rate will be almost out by 2012! For the next 20 years we expect the U.S. gross product to go up 3 percent per year while the work force will go up only 1 1/2 percent per year. It is far from clear that only the unskilled will be hit, however, because many of the newer machines are improved, not only in their ability and speed but in simplicity of maintenance. Skilled workers, both factory and clerical, will be affected. Use of plug-in assemblies, sim-