Engineering Expressiveness (02 Sep 2004)
There's no stopping this evolution. Today you have your choice of fonts, such as Times New Roman or Bookman Old Style. But in the future, you could have your choice of writing styles. The paper clip would ask whether you would prefer this in the style of Hemingway, or perhaps in the style of Dickens.
PowerPoint would begin to criticize our usage. "This slide is confusing," the paper clip would say. "Might I try redoing this for you to provide clarity?"
In the final stages, before the user revolution occurs, word processing programs would begin to criticize our ideas. "Let me give a counterargument," the paper clip would begin.
Suggesting big, powerful words is only the beginning. The camel's head is poking into the tent. As computers empower our expressiveness, they also plot to take it away.
Article URL: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/resource/sep04/0904refl.html
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