Computer Colleagues: Two Views
I. Those Who Protest Too Much
“Perhaps the time has already come . . . when the sluggard intellect of this continent will look from under its iron lids and fill the postponed expectation of the world with something better than the exertions of mechanical skill.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American Scholar” 1837
You have mistaken the hands for the heart,
The craft for the art,
The brain for the mind,
The plane for the destination.
The scholar schooled on Man Thinking must ask:
When the fountain replaced the quill,
Did the masters tout it as the solution
To all pedagogical problems? a fount of creativity?
When the ball point edged out the fountain,
Did they once again shout “panacea”? ideas become more liquid?
When typewriters lined up in classrooms,
Did English professors march their students in to improve
The essay? keys take on mind power?
All are fragile, who would teach and learn.
But our students know the difference
Between a tool and a work.
They come to us to search their souls.
If we imply that Man Thinking is Man Computing
II. Those Who Fear Big Brother
“Let the scholar not quit his belief that a popgun is a popgun, though the ancient and honorable of the earth affirm it to be the crack of doom.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American Scholar” 1837
You finger the edge of the new page
But refuse to read it:
Maybe you can’t control the syntax,
Maybe you’ll have to ask someone to help you—
Someone who is not as good as you are,
Some morale-less underling.
You do fine with your pen and ink—
You do write type, though, if the machine
Does not plug into the wall.
You suspect that invisible criminal activity
Is playing in the network of the system:
Whiz-kids accessing your bank accounts,
Administrators processing your thoughts.
Your students laugh loud at the clever insults
You spit at the machine,
But they know the difference between
A stagecoach and an airplane.
They’ve read that new page
And they know . . .
