I really enjoyed reading Man-Computer Symbiosis. There was a lot of interesting information that I had never heard before. I am someone who refuses to let technology take over my life. I won’t pay bills online for that very reason. I do think that computers are useful but I think that we are becoming a little too reliant on them. In section 1.2 the author talks about “mechanical extension” where mechanical parts of systems were used as extensions of man. However, now when we look at things, man is there to help out the system as opposed to being helped by it.
I found the section about memory very interesting. I had no idea there were different kinds of memory. I have seen crime shows where they talk about recovering information off of hard drives even after it has been deleted but I didn’t know the inner workings of the computer. The article stated that the computer cannot erase indelible memory. With all of this information, it certainly should make people think twice about what they do on their computers.
Indeed, there have been many different types of memory over the years, and they are always working on new types of memory technology. Without looking it up, do you know what kind of memory your computer is using? I remember back in the day, being stoked when I got a couple pieces of RAM and upgraded my computer to a whopping 64MB. This was way before the original DDR. Now, I'm running 6GB of 1333mhz DDR3. How times change. :)
ReplyDeleteThere are programs and methods for actually removing data from hard drives. Though, the best method, to be completely safe, is physical damage to the hard drive. Sledgehammer, fire, etc. :)