
Computers in the home? (1978) - rmason
http://clickamericana.com/media/newspapers/computers-in-the-home-the-family-of-the-future-1978
======
outworlder
> Mom putting the dishes in the dishwasher and programs the central processing
> unit to do the dishes and, while she’s at it, gives the unit new climate
> control instructions.

Yes, we do tell the diswhasher CPU to do the dishes, and we do tell the
climate control system to use new settings. What they couldn't predict is that
"CPU"s would become so cheap that they would be anywhere and have nothing
"central" about them.

~~~
evan_
What I think is interesting is that people thought that a central CPU would be
preferable to a mechanical timer with analog logic.

~~~
outworlder
They can be certainly more flexible, but for a dishwasher that's all you
probably need.

Except that nowadays it is cheaper to have a micro-controller and a few push
buttons than the old-fashioned mechanical timer.

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krzrak
It's funny how in these predictions of the technology future everybody seems
to be familiar with the technical details: mom is programming CPU, dad is
going to "buy that much-needed additional 2K memory he and the wife have been
meaning to get".

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6stringmerc
> _French said he and others in the industry are certain the home computer
> will revolutionize home life, making still more time available for leisure
> and other activities._

A perfectly reasonable assumption at the time - why not use these tools an
inventions to make our lives easier?

In many ways this has come true, mostly in the communications sector. Now even
a 'basic' smart phone has more computing power than what could be imagined at
the time of the article. So we've moved from 'computers in the home' to
'computers in our pockets' as a natural development within Moore's Law.

What the article clearly didn't account for, and I don't see how it could at
the time other than very vague postulation, is how these tools have also
forced working people into strange relationships with technology, some of them
harmful.

As in, the 'ghost phone' feeling of missing a call, or feeling a compulsion to
keep checking social sites for the latest update, or expecting people to be
within reach and contact 24/7/365\. These aren't new mental hang ups, per se,
they're just exacerbated by the ease of use of tools which can create a loop
of sorts.

Lastly, articles like this, which are positive and were informative at the
time, can benefit from different perspectives on occasion. The one that I was
compelled to research was the relationship between US worker Productivity and
Wages. A quick look around and I found this[1]:

> _Though productivity (defined as the output of goods and services per hours
> worked) grew by about 74 percent between 1973 and 2013, compensation for
> workers grew at a much slower rate of only 9 percent during the same time
> period, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute._

[http://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/posts/2015/02/la...](http://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/posts/2015/02/labor_gap/04e656c70.png)

Yes, there are many, many factors involved regarding that kind of trend over
~40 years, but I genuinely associate computer technology as playing a
significant role.

[1] [http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/02/why-
the-...](http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/02/why-the-gap-
between-worker-pay-and-productivity-is-so-problematic/385931/)

------
baldfat
> ... computer will revolutionize home life, making still more time available
> for leisure and other activities.

As we continue to work more and more away from home.

I had a Sol 20 computer in 1976. My dad bought it for the family and it was
one of the best things he did for us to learn. I loved that computer so much
with it's tape drive. 16 kb of memory (Expanded so I could write bigger
programs) and typing in basic programs to have the games to work. The bonus
was I forever was the guy that thought computers natively in the 1980s.

~~~
jandrese
There were two directions it could go. Either more leisure time or more
productivity. America has chosen option number 2. Option 1 isn't so great in a
global economy--if any other country chooses option 2 then you will be
noncompetitive.

------
rmason
As someone who well remembers this era, hardly anyone thought computers would
go mainstream. PC manufacturers hired PR people who wrote stories projecting
computers in every home.

Five years later a young lad whose parents were faculty in the computer
science department at Michigan State became the first student in the history
of the East Lansing school system to deliver a paper written on a computer.
The young mans name was Larry Page.

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dutchievandyk
Wait, George Orwell feared computers, not totalitarianism?

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nocman
"Dad is on his way to the store to buy that much-needed additional 2K memory
he and the wife have been meaning to get."

HAHAHAHA!!! 2K -- that's funny. Just goes to show you they never dreamed how
dirt cheap and huge memory would become over the years.

------
state
> The world that many thought could only exist in a dream or a science
> fiction, the world that others, such as George Orwell feared, is finally
> here.

Why yes, yes it is.

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Aardwolf
I must admit I had to look up what a "VDT" was.

It's Video Display Terminal by the way.

> Someday the machines will be doing everything from the wash to income tax
> returns.

Those are both still science fiction unfortunately :)

~~~
MichaelBurge
Computers can do tax returns. They haven't replaced accountants, but it's not
wrong on that point.

Apartment complexes can have commercial laundry machines for the residents,
which often involve computers. It doesn't free you from putting your clothes
in, though.

------
dreamcompiler
The R2D2 reference is funny. The original Star Wars movie really is that old.

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mike_hock
DAE that Commodore looks like Darth Vader?

~~~
msh
I was more reminded by a cylon from the original bsg series.

