1945

"We can project ahead to a time when man/machine interaction will exist in every home. We have already seen the impact of television—just short of disastrous. The computer need not be so, but rather it could raise the intellectual tone of the home to the pre-TV level or higher." This was professor John Kemeny's opening statement in his talk at the dedication of the Kiewit Computation Center in December 1966. It was my privilege to attend that two-day program, and a recent serendipitous attic foray turned up my old notes.

Professors Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz had created the Dartmouth College timesharing system, wherein for the first time multiple users at dispersed locations could share the power of a central computer.

Probably somewhere there is a transcript of what John Kemeny said, but my recollection is that he spoke beautifully organized spontaneous paragraphs without script or even notes. What follows is a reconstruction from my notes on his talk.

• By 1990 the typical American home will have a single-unit console with telephone, keyboard, and screen, giving the family access to a huge network of computers.

• The housewife, in computer conversational mode, will plan meals, comparison shop, place market orders, and have her bank balance automatically debited.

• Studying at home for her Ph.D. in sociology, she will get her lectures via TV and conduct her research project from the family console. She will search databanks, have the computer test them, help write her text, call up films of city operations and graphical displays for sure.

• Junior in the seventh grade will compete with Mom for time to do his algebra. Kids will access all sorts of recreation.

• Dad, an M.D., will consult medical central for aid in diagnoses and recommendations for additional tests. Emphasis will be on active interaction between man and the computer.

• The computer will have its effect on urban plight; it will reduce the need to go to the city. Central offices will be places for machines rather than for humans. Then man can live where he finds peace, privacy, and belonging (Hanover?)—and turn the ugly cities over to the machines.

Time-shared computing was the advance of the 19605. Dartmouth can take major credit. In the same decade, the U.S. Department of Defense and selected universities were linking computer systems with each other, purely for scientific research. These were the origins of today's Internet, also included in Kemeny's 1966 vision. In reviewing my notes on the many technical and academic papers presented at the dedication, I was struck by Kemeny's decision to talk about the computer and the family. His concept was remarkably accurate.

As for impact on the cities, the telecommuting he foresaw is clearly present and growing. But for solving the urban plight, let's be hopeful and patient. Perhaps we should give Professor Kemeny's vision another 30 years.

P.O. Box 1317, New London, NH 03257

Author Evan S. Cornell '45, p 45