About This Blog
Automating Invention is Robert Plotkin's blog on the impact of computer-automated inventing on the law (primarily patent law). The blog also explores the implications of computer-automated inventing for creativity, ethics, and high-tech industry.
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Philosophy
« February 2006 | Main | June 2006 »
May 27, 2006
Mark Twain Fails at Investing in Automation
There's a good piece in the New Scientist about Mark Twain's failed investments in "the Paige Compositor," a mechanical device that attempted mimic the movements of a human typesetter.
Posted by Robert at 10:00 AM
| Comments (0)
category:
History of Computing
May 26, 2006
Automation: Promoter or Destroyer of Creativity?
Robert L. Glass asksin the Communications of the ACM (subscription required) whether certain advances in software engineering have helped or hindered the creativity of the programmers who have benefitted from these advances. In particular, he acknowledges that those who were responsible for inventing these advances (such as high-order programming languages, operating systems, and modular programming) did something creative, but then questions whether these advances "enhanced the creative abilities of software engineers." His conclusion? "My answer, after some further reflection, remains 'yes.'"
We can ask the same thing about the impact of any kind of advance in automation or systematization. If someone were to automate big chunks of the process of writing a patent application (possibly putting me out of a job), it could take all of the creativity out of the process for someone who writes patent applications. Or it could remove the drudgery, allowing the writer to become creative at a whole new level. Which of these two possibilities occurs depends not only on the technology involved but also on the person using it.
Posted by Robert at 4:29 PM
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category:
Work