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will require one to think even more
about and assess unfamiliar con–
cepts, to reason and draw conclu–
sions, to make judgments then act
on the new understanding.
One expert says the intell igent
person of the future wi ll be the one
who wi ll be able, with a computer 's
help, to locate informat ion, not
store it in his head.
Merely reading or hearing about
computers, however, does not con–
stitute literacy any more than rcad–
ing about numbers makes students
mathematically literate. You learn
by hands-on operation.
If
you don't
have access to a computer, t ry
enroll ing in a computer course at a
college or trade school, or join a
communi ty computer club.
lf you are in college, study major
disciplines of mathematics, comput–
er science, electronic engineering–
even satellite engineering.
Or, if you have to, march into a
computer store and declare, " 1
know nothing about computers–
can you please show me how they
work?"
If
there's a computer in your
officc, ask if someone may teach
you about its operation. One study
estimates office workers today
could save 15 percent of thei r time
if they only used the technology
now available. Perhaps a computer
is available for you.
Oown the Road .. .
The forecasts for the next five to
seven years are that about a half
million computers will be in U.S.
schools alone.
Technology may soon be available
for travelers to plug their pocket-size
computer to a synthesized knowl–
edge bank for instant facts about
subjects ranging from finance and
sports to statistics and health.
Japanese specialists toi l toward a
projected 1990 goal, when they will
unvei l a Fifth Generation Comput–
er- a "world brain" containing one
million transistors on a single si licon
chip the size of a pinhead. This new
phase of computer, it is hoped, will
converse with humans in Japanese,
English and German and supply
expert services in law, medicine and
economics.
The Japanese government would
use the Fifth Generation Computer
"to boost industrial competi t ive-
26
ness worldwide, save energy and
address social problems ... a quest
for global supremacy in the infor–
mation field."
Global supremacy would give the
Japanese a hold- not on food or
weapons- bu t on informat ion .
"Whoever has a grip on informa–
tion management will direct a lot of
where we go and the bridges that
get us there," says Michael Dertou–
zos, one of America's premier com–
puter scientists.
But computers' ar tificial intelli–
gence cannot rival human ability to
think creatively.
The Missing Dimenslon
Herbert
A.
Simon, who won the
1978 Nobel prize in economics and
research into the decision-making
process, be l ievcs all sorts of
improvements in human affairs can
come about i f we are able to
enhance human thinking power
with large amounts of computer
thinking power.
"After all, there's a lot more
thinking in the world that needs to
be done than gets done. Using com–
puters, we' ll make a lot of decisions
more sensibly," says Mr. Simon.
Missing from this observation,
however, is the
spiritual
d imen–
sion. The underlying causes of
man's greatest problems cannot be
solved on a computer. No computer
program dealing with onJy material
elements can solve problems that
are based not on material but on
spi ritual causes.
The ultimate source for solving
earth 's monumental problems is
God and bis revealed knowledge–
the Bible. That's the message of
The Plain Truth.
o
The PLAIN TRUTH