Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

computing ... machine intelligence ... supercomputers ... supermind ... future

Don Northcote
Octogenarian Low-Profile Polymath, Retired
(You’ve got a dictionary on your computer, haven’t you?)

 

Why am I here?
I am not selling anything, seeking employment, or in need of an ego-trip!

 

Well, at the end of the eighties I wrote a book entitled:

SUPERMIND!…Should Computers Take Over?

It was anecdotal, futuristic, contentious, and addressed the destiny of the human race.
It didn’t get published.
I added some more bits over the two or three years which followed.
It still didn’t get published.
It would now require complete re-writing and updating and, for various reasons, I am probably not going to do that.

However, it contains a few little pieces of some interest and it would be a pity if these blooms were born merely to blush unseen and waste their fragrance on the desert air.
(Hey, that’s a neat image, I’m glad I coined it!)

I had felt that these thoughts needed to be set in their original context of a fully-developed and extended argument, but perhaps at least some of them can stand alone, suitably trimmed and edited.
Let’s give it a try, anyway!

To see where I’m coming from (as they say), start with:

A PERSONAL ODYSSEY (964 words)

One of my Journal Editorials from the mid-eighties takes a “futurological” look at computing:
SYNERGY (473 words)

Another Editorial:
CHAOS AND CATASTROPHE (589 words)

On Brains and Supercomputers:
THE IDIOT SAVANT (843 words)

Followed by:
MACHINE INTELLIGENCE (1088 words)

Come down to earth with a view from the early nineties of:
THE HOME PC EXPLOSION (738 words)

Consider a possible “Doomsday Scenario” with:
PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS (485 words)

And end up with an overview at:
ONE SECOND TO MIDNIGHT (4468 words)

 

A FEW CRUMBS

 

When I first put up this website on 13/11/99, I said I might return with further offerings.

I suppose I could have included the whole book, but this surely would have been self-defeating!

Now, nearly four years on, I will merely add a few snippets – some “thoughts in a nutshell”!

  POLITICS, RELIGION, AND SOCIETY (822 words)

   

ADDENDUM

Now into my eighties I am registered blind (although with some impaired vision remaining) and have had extensive Angioplasty following several heart attacks.

I thought, therefore, to add to this website two items not in my book, for my own reference as well as for anyone else who might be interested.

My Curriculum Vitae

A Brief biography

 


This started as my first, unsophisticated, attempt at a Web Site.
I have returned to it  with changes and additions, and may return to it again.
In the meantime, I thank you for your company. Live long and prosper!

The number of visitors since 13 January 2000,when this counter was installed.

I will never know the number of "Hits" prior to this date!