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Senior Moments

Category: Technology / Topics: Computers (and other Digital devices) Language, Meaning Science & Technology

Cybernetics

by Dan Seagren

Posted: January 11, 2009

My most recent senior moment arrived when I realized how limited my vocabulary really is…

My most recent senior moment arrived when I realized how limited my vocabulary really is. But then, if knowledge is increasing at a rate we mortals find difficult to understand, maybe, just maybe, we seniors are entitled to miss a word or two now and then.

I had to look up the word "cybernetic" from which we can also indulge in verifying what "cyber" and "cybernetics" mean. Cybernetic refers to most anything mechanical, electrical, computerized, programmed or streamlined. Or virtual. So now we know. Or do we?

But what about cyber? It isn’t in the dictionary I used. So, I went to Wikipedia (been there yet?) which is a newfangled dictionary with entries written by people like you and me, not a circle of experts. Anyway, it helped but only by how it is used, not a definition per se. Look: "e-", "cyber-", and "virtual" are most often used in names coined for "electronic" or computer-related counterparts of a pre-existing product or service. "e-", standing for the word used in the names of e-mail ("electronic mail"), e-commerce ("electronic commerce"), e-business ("electronic business"),e-banking ("electronic banking"), and e-book ("electronic book") . . . The term is similar to "virtual," but cyber is used more frequently. Yet Cyber Crime is rampant today and is both insidious and difficult to quash.

I recently sent an article on "Cyber Bullying" to our daughter because it exposed the dangers of children being bullied on the computer. This can even be worse than physical bullying in school or on the playground. Only yesterday I saw a question posed by a parent wondering what laptop computers would be best for his 8 and 10 year old children. I hope he understands the meaning of cyber and its nuances. I would suggest, probably in vain, a desktop in the busiest room of the house to be shared by both boys. But then, I’m not their grandpa. Lucky for them, ‘maybe?

I do not know what the per centage is of seniors who do e-mail and own computers. Nor do I know how many have computers but ignore them (like so many hearing aids lying dormant in drawers). But I marvel at the dexterity and skill of children using a mouse and the keyboard, especially when I have tried more than once to help a senior manipulate a mouse and realized how difficult it can be.

Yes, we live in a computer age, the cyber century. We write letters, pay bills, compose poetry, design kitchens, read the news and even books on computers. Only ten or fifteen years ago, a computer was cost prohibitive (thousands of dollars for the state of the art machine) and weighed a ton. Today we can get one weighing two pounds which can do things a 1995 model couldn’t imagine. We do live in a cyber world. What will succeed it is anyone’s guess as things become obsolete at a frenzied rate.

Back to Cybernetics. It was conceived by Norbert Wiener who coined the term in 1948. Cybernetics views communication and control in all self-contained complex systems as analogous. Because of the increasing sophistication of computers and the efforts to make them behave in humanlike ways, cybernetics today is closely allied with artificial intelligence and robotics . . . Ah so, it’s been around for quite awhile and has evolved considerably. A study of cybernetics and an understanding of cyber as used today is quite fascinating.

Computers (and computing) is quite a phenomenon, far beyond the understanding of this senior citizen. How to comprehend how computers work, the speed they achieve boggles my mind, and perhaps yours as well. How hackers can commandeer your computer and mine, and thousands more and harness them to do mischief, or worse, is beyond comprehension.

If our grandchildren and great-grandchildren are wondering if there are any worlds to conquer in the future, they can rest easily. The future will be demanding, challenging, frustrating and rewarding, not necessarily in that order. Then, when they begin to have their senior moments, they’ll chuckle over columns like this (if any exist that long). Welcome, prospective seniors, to the future.



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Dan Seagren is an active retiree whose writings reflect his life as a Pastor, author of several books, and service as a Chaplain in a Covenant Retirement Community.

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Posted: January 11, 2009   Accessed 173 times

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