It is a far cry from the abacus to the modern keyboard accounting machine. It will be an equal step to the arithmetical machine of the future. But even this new machine will not take the scientist where he needs to go. Relief must be secured from laborious detailed manipulation of higher mathematics as well, if the users of it are to free their brains for something more than repetitive detailed transformations in accordance with established rules.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Computers moved from abacus to keyboard, but future machines must handle math so scientists can focus on higher thinking.
- In plain terms
- Machines should do the hard math so people can think about bigger ideas.
- What can you take from it?
- Automate routine tasks to free up human thought.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What tasks should stay human?
- How much automation is too much?
Another view
Relying on machines might reduce human skill in underlying math.
More from Vannevar Bush
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