Man-Computer Symbiosis

1. Man-Computer Symbiosis J.C.R. Licklider, 1960 Presentation by Julia Cambre J.C.R. Licklider, "Man-Computer Symbiosis", IRE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics, Vol. HFE-1 (March 1960), pp. 4-11. http://memex.org/licklider.pdf

2. J.C.R. Licklider (1915 – 1990) “An imaginative experimenter and theoretician, an intellectual leader, and a visionary” (National Academies Press) Education: BA, Washington University, 1937 MA, Washington University, 1938 PhD, University of Rochester, 1942 Long-time faculty member at MIT Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1969 Influential career at ARPA (particularly on time-sharing)

3. J.C.R. Licklider: Pioneering work at ARPA “The least known of Lick’s accomplishments is perhaps his most significant. Prior to his work at ARPA, no U.S. university granted a Ph.D. in computer science. A university graduate program requires a research base, and that in turn requires a long-term commitment of dollars. Lick’s ARPA program set the precedent for providing the research base at four of the first universities to establish graduate programs in computer science: U.C. Berkeley, CMU, MIT, and Stanford.” (Preface to the article) 🙌 thank you, Lick! 🙌

4. Computing in 1960 PDP-1 (Programmed Data Processor-1), released 1959 • Spurred the creation of “hacker culture” at MIT • First computer to emphasize user interaction over efficient computation • Hosted the first computer game (Spacewar!) • Used punched tape • Cost $120,000 in 1960 (approximately $1.37 million in 2019 dollars) DEC’s PDP-1 machine

5. Mechanically extended man Man-machine symbiosis Artificial Intelligence

6. Mechanically extended man Man-machine symbiosis Artificial Intelligence “There will nevertheless be a fairly long interim during which the main intellectual advances will be made by men and computers working together in intimate association”

7. Motivations Computers and humans have relative strengths and weaknesses

8. Man-Computer Symbiosis sym·bi·o·sis /ˌsimbīˈōsəs,ˌsimbēˈōsəs/ noun • interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both. • a mutually beneficial relationship between different people or groups. man com·put·er sym·bi·o·sis “The hope is that, in not too many years, human brains and computing machines will be coupled together very tightly, and that the resulting partnership will think as no human brain has ever thought and process data in a way not approached by the information-handling machines we know today”

9. Man-Computer Symbiosis • Computers facilitate formulative thinking • Humans and computers cooperate in real-time decision-making without needing pre-determined programs

10. Implementing the vision What Licklider saw as necessary for making man-computer symbiosis possible: • Time-sharing • Improvements to memory • Easier information organization and retrieval • Natural communication through a shared language • More sophisticated input and output equipment

11. Implementing the vision: time-sharing • Approach to splitting / maximizing expensive computer time among multiple users working at different terminals • One of Licklider’s greatest contributions to computing • Eventually evolved into the ARPANET (precursor to the internet)

12. Implementing the vision: Improvements to memory THEN NOW “When we start to think of storing any appreciable fraction of a technical literature in computer memory, we run into billions of bits, and unless things change markedly, billions of dollars”

13. Implementing the vision: Easier information organization and retrieval

14. Implementing the vision: Natural communication through a shared language • Interested in overcoming fundamental differences between human languages and computer languages • Distinction between courses vs. goals • Ideal: communication through human speech

15. Implementing the vision:More sophisticated input and output equipment Looks towards a future where I/O devices approach or surpass “the flexibility and convenience of the pencil and doodle pad or the chalk and blackboard” OCR-like desk-surface display & control Wall displays Voice-based interaction

16. Discussion Questions Our field is known as human-computer interaction, rather than (hu)man-computer symbiosis. What do you think distinguishes interaction from symbiosis, and to what extent have we achieved “symbiosis” to date? “I think the most salient semantic difference between (hu)man-computer symbiosis and human-computer interaction is that in symbiosis, both parties always benefit from the relationship. Taking this view, some of our uses of computers today lean dangerously far from symbiosis. We’ve come far enough and put enough faith in our systems that we now run into ethical and societal issues in which they’re something in between tools and actors… Harmful algorithmic bias, major data breaches, cyber bullying, and enabled inequality are elements of human-computer interactions, but not indicative of symbiotic relationships.” - Sam “I was taken by the idea of "symbiosis" as a way of thinking about and contextualizing our relationship with technology. Currently, the trend appears to be using computers as machines to reduce cognitive load on humans and automate away much of the work day-to-day life requires. However, symbiosis implies that perhaps humans and technology should work together in a more organic manner.” - Amber

17. Discussion Questions Our field is known as human-computer interaction, rather than (hu)man-computer symbiosis. What do you think distinguishes interaction from symbiosis, and to what extent have we achieved “symbiosis” to date? “I haven't viewed the human-computer part as symbiotic. My assumption has always been based on the idea that computers are tools that enable human activity/function (this view aligns more with the second extreme presented in the article). This paper introduces the idea of a form of partnership as opposed to a one-sided task-oriented relationship, the idea of symbiosis includes active participation on both the human and machine sides. I feel that with the current technology trend (AI and such), we might have moved away from this (at least on the human side). This might also be one of the many contributing factors to some of the algorithmic bias challenges that are plaguing the field lately - because humans are assuming a more passive consumption-based role.” - Kirabo

18. Discussion Questions Our field is known as human-computer interaction, rather than (hu)man-computer symbiosis. What do you think distinguishes interaction from symbiosis, and to what extent have we achieved “symbiosis” to date? “Symbiosis implies that the computer is gaining something out of the interaction like coral reefs and fish, but it's really just becoming a better tool. I think there is something philosophically dicey about this. Is it symbiosis if I design a screwdriver that better fits my needs? Secondly, it became clear at some point that computers are not universally good. For example, computer viruses emerged in the 1970s.” - Sujeath “I hate the word "symbiosis", it sounds like "The Blob" or "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." Interaction doesn't quite cover it either, however - in this idea, to me, we and our devices, networks, artifacts, programs, etc. become one "distributed system," in human factors-speak. This type of system is more than a collection of parts - it only achieves its optimal operation through the parts working together.” - Cori

19. Discussion Questions Licklider suggests that the human-machine “partnership will think as no human brain has ever thought and process data in a way not approached by the information-handling machines we know today.” Do humans need to fully understand how computers think in order for this partnership to be successful? In other words, how does a concept like algorithmic transparency affect our symbiosis (or lack thereof) with computers? shoutout to Amber for inspiring this question with her discussion response!

20. Discussion Questions Licklider dedicates a sizable part of the article to discussing communication challenges between humans and machines, particularly related to how information is conveyed through speech or other input / output devices like wall displays and desktop touch devices. Do you think new forms of interaction (e.g. brain-computer interaction or improved speech recognition and synthesis) fundamentally improve symbiosis? “As an observation on the three main input and output methods presented in this paper - I have to say I disagree that mimicking natural human-to-human communication modalities (i.e. writing, talking) is necessarily the best path towards producing natural/efficient communication modalities with all devices (i.e. computers). For example, if I wanted to communicate the location of a city on a map, it would be must quicker to use a mouse to point to its location that to describe it in words.” - Jason

21. Discussion Questions Do you think new forms of interaction (e.g. brain-computer interaction or improved speech recognition and synthesis) fundamentally improve symbiosis? “What if we could tap our brain directly to a computer so that we can truly achieve "WITIWIG" (what I think is what I get)? Such mind control of computers gets the best of both worlds: human' ability to carry out critical thinking and computer's unlimited computational power. Maybe we should move towards this direction. And maybe this could mark the beginning of the end of all traditional user interfaces because we won't be needing one in the future!” - Michael “I'm pretty skeptical that humans have the level of "critical thinking" necessary to make even super-high-tech-magical "direct" brain-reading interfaces tractable -- specifically, human thoughts/desires tend to be incredibly underspecified, even when we feel like we've got a complete mental image of something. (For example, think about the difference between drawing something from reference vs drawing something from memory.) There's always going to be some interrogation and clarification necessary, or otherwise lots of assumptions which may not be desirable.” - Lea

22. Discussion Questions Do you think new forms of interaction (e.g. brain-computer interaction or improved speech recognition and synthesis) fundamentally improve symbiosis? “I feel like the interface works best when there is no interface at all (as in Schneiderman’s direct manipulation, on a higher level). The main difference between the early HCI and contemporary works seems to be the human-centered approach; the user had to adapt to the machine’s interface whereas now machines adapt to user capabilities.” - Nur

23. Discussion Questions What are the potential consequences or downsides of human-computer symbiosis, if any? The unseen consequences in my view are the lack of "privacy by design" or "security by design." Each year, we humans become more tightly integrated with the computational systems in our lives. Each year, we seem to be exposed to ever greater harms from privacy and security breaches of these computational systems. If you think of our physical form as a symbiosis of many different types of cells and cell interactions, our bodies have evolved very delicate and sophisticated systems to regulate how it collectively defends against invaders and what info the cells will transmit to those like them vs. those not like them. We need some sort of bottom-up defense system and communication filter designed into a human-computer symbiosis as well. Tacking some sort of security or privacy protection onto the end of system development doesn't seem to work very well, although it's better than not bothering to tack it on at all until problems emerge (cough *Facebook* cough). - Cori

24. Discussion Questions What are the potential consequences or downsides of human-computer symbiosis, if any? Human-computer symbiosis can have many negative consequences. For example: 1. Symbiosis would require better understanding and interpretation by the machine, which in turn means better ubiquitous sensing. While this will offer several benefits, this can also have major consequences for privacy and security. 2. Loss of human-to-human connection: We've already seen this smartphones and personal computers. Many people are addicted to their devices and often spend more time on them, then with friends and family. This effect will become more and more pronounced as we grow closer to man-machine symbiosis. E.g. there may be more robotic co-workers than human co-workers in certain jobs. 3. Loss of employment -- Prerna

25. Discussion Questions What are the potential consequences or downsides of human-computer symbiosis, if any? “For example, when I worked with teachers in Japan, there were quite many teachers who had the fear that they would lose their job in the future because of technologies. To these teachers, technologies were not something that they would be able to work together to improve teaching. They strongly believed that only humans can be teachers and they saw technologies were not qualified to teach because humans and technologies are “dissimilar” in many aspects.” - Tomo