Nine Tomorrows - Will Computers Control the Future?

Nine Tomorrows - Will Computers Control the Future?

People always tend to seek the easy way out looking for something that

would make their lives easier. Machines and tools have given us the

ability to do more in less time giving us, at the same time, more comfort.

As the technology advances, computers become faster and more powerful.

These new machines are enabling us to do more in less time making our lives

easier. The increased use of computers in the future, however, might have

negative results and impact on our lives. In the novel Nine Tomorrows

Isaac Asimov often criticizes our reliance on computers by portraying a

futuristic world where computers control humans.

One of the images which Asimov describes in the book is that humans

might become too dependent on computers. In one of the stories,

Profession, Asimov writes about people being educated by computer programs

designed to educate effortlessly a person. According to the Profession

story people would no longer read books to learn and improve their

knowledge. People would rely on the computers rather than "try to memorize

enough to match someone else who knows" (Nine Tomorrows, Profession 55).

People would not chose to study, they would only want to be educated by

computer tapes. Putting in knowledge would take less time than reading

books and memorizing something that would take almost no time using a

computer in the futuristic world that Asimov describes. Humans might began

to rely on computers and allow them to control themselves by letting

computers educate people. Computers would start teaching humans what

computers tell them without having any choice of creativity. Computers

would start to control humans' lives and make humans become too dependent

on the computers.

Another point that is criticized by Asimov is the fact that people

might take their knowledge for granted allowing computers to take over and

control their lives. In a story called The Feeling of Power, Asimov

portrays how people started using computers to do even simple mathematical

calculations. Over a long period of time people became so reliable on

computers that they forgot the simplest multiplication and division rules.