[HN Gopher] 1970s campus librarians foresaw our world of distrib...
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1970s campus librarians foresaw our world of distributed knowledge
and research
Author : PaulHoule
Score : 72 points
Date : 2023-06-09 02:51 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (aeon.co)
(TXT) w3m dump (aeon.co)
| [deleted]
| squarefoot wrote:
| Isaac Asimov himself imagined a world wide library that anyone
| could access remotely, though I can't recall when he wrote about
| it.
| peoplefromibiza wrote:
| wasn't it the Imperial Library of Trantor in Foundation?
| [deleted]
| loa_in_ wrote:
| Wasn't it Stanislaw Lem with his Summa Technologiae?
| bregma wrote:
| Wasn't it Terry Pratchett with his L-space?
| rsynnott wrote:
| That's a bit of a cheat; I think it showed up first in
| Guards! Guards!. That was written in 1989, at which point
| in _reasonably_ sure Pratchett was already using usenet.
| ghaff wrote:
| A number of authors have run with the idea but Asimov was
| probably the first. [1]
|
| One interesting aspect to this sort of thing historically is
| that it's (almost?) always portrayed as an authoritative work
| created by experts because that's pretty much what
| encyclopedias were. I'm not sure there are any examples that
| look like Wikipedia in fiction.
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopedia_Galactica
| tokai wrote:
| Nah Paul Otlet was the first.
| zabzonk wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Library_of_Babel - this one
| is nearly, but not quite infinite and doesn't have an ip
| address.
| bruce511 wrote:
| >> Their hands trembled as they touched the keyboard; several
| later reported that they had been afraid of breaking the entire
| system as they typed.
|
| This brought back memories. I was introduced to computers back in
| the 80's, as a child. Naturally, once familiar, I would look to
| share that experience with other children, and adults.
|
| I learned early that re-enforcing the fact that you "can do no
| harm" [1] was key to getting people to relax, which improved both
| their enthusiasm and enjoyment. [2]
|
| I guess for adults it was something like learning to drive , and
| so there was a fear if "breaking it". Computers were expensive,
| and rare enough, that people approached them with done
| trepidation.
|
| Now if you drop it in the toilet you just get another one.
|
| [1] the machines of that era only had floppy disks, so any damage
| at all would be limited to the disk. And copying/ formatting
| disks was, dare I say it, childs play.
|
| [2] some of the early computers -could- be physically damaged
| with specific instructions, but it wasn't possible (probable)
| that you could do that accidentally as a new user.
| totetsu wrote:
| Lately I can break the computer by opening the wrong site in
| snap firefox :(
| hutzlibu wrote:
| But not brick it. You just restart in worst case.
|
| To brick something, you would have to go deep.
| jaclaz wrote:
| Sure, Chernobyl/CIH never happened:
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIH_(computer_virus)
| detourdog wrote:
| Rumor has it that the library in Alexandria was contained so many
| scrolls was due to the a rule that all docking boats had to have
| their scrolls copied and added to the library. Imagine the
| bandwidth of a watercraft loaded with scrolls.
|
| I have always viewed libraries as form of distributed knowledge
| and research using the current forms of technology. The 1970s is
| about when electronic data became practical. The issue with
| information is knowing where and how to find it when needed. The
| internet only represents the where to find it.
|
| The best views on media and human development I have seen was a
| book called tube of plenty. This is a condensed version of a a
| three book series. I enjoyed the condensed book so much I read
| the 3 expanded versions.
|
| https://www.worldcat.org/title/1036961770
| WalterBright wrote:
| I read a book written in the 1960s about a kid who, as a subplot,
| received a computer that had a screen it could write on. It would
| answer questions typed in. The kid typed in "what is the main
| export of Bolivia?" and the computer responded with "tin".
|
| I cannot recall the rest of the book or its title.
|
| I was amused when a few years ago I asked google that question,
| and got back "tin" as the answer.
|
| It's still the only fact I know about Bolivia.
| ojbyrne wrote:
| I read a book in the early 90s
| (https://www.librarything.com/work/184088/reviews/17020402)
| that suggested that the authority of a given article, book, etc
| should be based on the number of times it was cited in other
| articles, books etc, weighted by the authority of the items
| that did the citing.
|
| I.e. PageRank.
| clipsy wrote:
| It's also wrong[0], incidentally.
|
| [0]:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivia#/media/File:Bolivia_Pr...
|
| edit: So I guess that book did a great job predicting how AI
| would work!
| metadat wrote:
| > Then WalterBright became uncharacteristically quiet and
| pensive, and slowly transformed into pure energy and
| slithereD away, escaping into the crevasses of the wood
| moulding around the perimeter of the room which you both
| previously occupied.
|
| > You now find yourself all alone.
|
| <3 you WB, you are a big brain (sincerely). Please drop a
| shout out to C++huck Allison in your next book, if possible!
| ;D
| WalterBright wrote:
| Chuck is a good man.
| [deleted]
| thaeli wrote:
| It was correct when the book was written, but isn't anymore.
| lolinder wrote:
| Yep, looks like it was accurate until the end of the 80s:
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_in_Bolivia#Tin_produ
| c...
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(page generated 2023-06-10 23:02 UTC)