underway. Such devices might help monitor patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Amplified noises from such patients' hurt knees sound like fingernails running down a
blackboard, whereas, normal knees sound like a smooth-running seesaw. This is just
one example of the many uses of computers in health care; many more will follow.
4-15. INCREASED ACCEPTANCE OF COMPUTERS
Computer phobia will be alleviated through a better understanding of computers,
increasingly user-friendly programs, and built-in safeguards for computer systems. The
reluctance to accept computers, especially by those who did not grow up with
computers, will be overcome, as companies convert their operations to computer
systems.
4-16. ROBOTICS
Robots will be used more and more in industry to do tasks that are boring or
dangerous for humans. Robots currently paint cars, assemble appliances, and mine
coal. They also work in high-radiation environments to handle parts too hot or cold for
humans or to clean up the radiation of damaged nuclear reactors. The military plans to
use robots in place of soldiers to patrol-restricted areas and battle zones. Robots are
being designed to pluck chickens, shear sheep, care for the sick, aid nurses, and
doctors during surgery, and fight crime. Someday, robots may be common in the home.
Robots are desirable for repetitive tasks because they provide a higher measure of
standardization and quality.
4-17. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Computers solve problems using mathematics and logic. People often solve
attempts to program computers for tasks normally assumed to require human
intelligence - tasks such as thinking, reasoning, remembering past experiences, and
making logical deductions from these experiences. Researchers are trying to develop
computers that can understand human speech, read and summarize news stories,
compile data about a sick person, and diagnose the illness. Intelligent computers would
be able to read books and periodicals, and prepare summaries. They could do library
research and suggest possible courses of actions and outcomes. In medicine and law,
computers would use and apply specialized knowledge. If artificial intelligence
applications proved practicable, computers could learn from their experiences to some
limited degree. The result would be computer chips that made decisions like the human
mind.
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