In 1943, terminated the service of a military chaplain, Jesuit Father Roberto Busa receives obedience (I know, the rest of us is called "taxation" but the Society of Jesus prefer more euphemistic terminology) to study Doctor Angelicus. Dall'ottemperanza it comes to a treaty by which the Busa took a degree in philosophy.
At this point, the religious conceived the idea to compile a body of work includes complete works of Aquinas and several dozens of texts of other authors associated with it, with on - drum roll - lemmatization of the eleven million words that compose it.
Now, it so happens that in 1949, that year in which his thesis is published, the Busa is located in New York, where he has the sock idea to take contact with Thomas Watson and ask him: "Son dear, is not that sometimes those machines could automate your work that I set? You know, I would not put thirty years ... "
Thomas Watson, of course, replied:" Father dear, but that comes to mind? The computers process the numbers, not the lyrics, "And the
Busa, piqued," But then are useless! "
course, it is possible that the conversation took place exactly like this - so I was told by someone who has personally known the Jesuit, but I can not help suspecting that there has affixed some little flourishes, in any event, the sell it for as I bought it. The fact is that the work eventually took thirty years actually, and its result is nothing more than what we today call "hypertext."
precursor of the cursor.
Every time I give vent to my skepticism about certain implications of the progressive computerization life, the universe and everything, I will shut up the past- orientedness , never dwell on the fact that for my first twenty-five years I lived in a world where cell phones were still burying SF ( or almost). It's not so surprising, then, if I still prefer the paper to the LCD, or any other devilry on which these are based tecnasmi the present time.
Nevertheless, I look with some favor the spread of new systems that can do good service to the text, if only because they know the future generations a considerable familiarity with them. In what sends me into confusion, my younger colleagues are perfectly at ease. (And vice versa, alas. But this is not the place to discuss it.)
Also, at this stage dawn of the electronic book, I find it tempting the opportunity to send my grandson to school in a few years, with three ounces of gadgets, rather than allow a duffel bag crammed with papers from twenty-two pounds crumble the clavicles.
I can not ignore, however, that while the 'Busa Index of printed paper is still legible, the punch cards of which the scholar was used in its compilation have now only be useful if recycled as bookmarks. And the problem of support is not a trifle.
In the eighties I got rid of a sea of \u200b\u200bvinyl, because now there was the audio tape, in the nineties we switched to CDs, and tapes were now dusty antique; Two thousand arrived in the mp3, and the Walkman and the Discman ended in the garbage, ousted from the iPod. Who can I be sure that electronic formats will not do the same fate?
Which brings me back to the issue of past- orientedness : paradoxically, I, miserable carcass of past centuries, I do worth of the future.
The hypertext network in which we consult in these minutes are still available in two hours? The pdf that we buy today will still be available in ten years? Twenty? Thirty? I have no idea. But I know that my old-growth cards can be read also by my nephew.
And right now, on my desk stands a dictionary printed in 1874 (with numerous marginal notes penned by Hugo Gering fine nib!), Which still pays me good service every day.
At this point, the religious conceived the idea to compile a body of work includes complete works of Aquinas and several dozens of texts of other authors associated with it, with on - drum roll - lemmatization of the eleven million words that compose it.
Now, it so happens that in 1949, that year in which his thesis is published, the Busa is located in New York, where he has the sock idea to take contact with Thomas Watson and ask him: "Son dear, is not that sometimes those machines could automate your work that I set? You know, I would not put thirty years ... "
Thomas Watson, of course, replied:" Father dear, but that comes to mind? The computers process the numbers, not the lyrics, "And the
Busa, piqued," But then are useless! "
course, it is possible that the conversation took place exactly like this - so I was told by someone who has personally known the Jesuit, but I can not help suspecting that there has affixed some little flourishes, in any event, the sell it for as I bought it. The fact is that the work eventually took thirty years actually, and its result is nothing more than what we today call "hypertext."
precursor of the cursor.
Every time I give vent to my skepticism about certain implications of the progressive computerization life, the universe and everything, I will shut up the past- orientedness , never dwell on the fact that for my first twenty-five years I lived in a world where cell phones were still burying SF ( or almost). It's not so surprising, then, if I still prefer the paper to the LCD, or any other devilry on which these are based tecnasmi the present time.
Nevertheless, I look with some favor the spread of new systems that can do good service to the text, if only because they know the future generations a considerable familiarity with them. In what sends me into confusion, my younger colleagues are perfectly at ease. (And vice versa, alas. But this is not the place to discuss it.)
Also, at this stage dawn of the electronic book, I find it tempting the opportunity to send my grandson to school in a few years, with three ounces of gadgets, rather than allow a duffel bag crammed with papers from twenty-two pounds crumble the clavicles.
I can not ignore, however, that while the 'Busa Index of printed paper is still legible, the punch cards of which the scholar was used in its compilation have now only be useful if recycled as bookmarks. And the problem of support is not a trifle.
In the eighties I got rid of a sea of \u200b\u200bvinyl, because now there was the audio tape, in the nineties we switched to CDs, and tapes were now dusty antique; Two thousand arrived in the mp3, and the Walkman and the Discman ended in the garbage, ousted from the iPod. Who can I be sure that electronic formats will not do the same fate?
Which brings me back to the issue of past- orientedness : paradoxically, I, miserable carcass of past centuries, I do worth of the future.
The hypertext network in which we consult in these minutes are still available in two hours? The pdf that we buy today will still be available in ten years? Twenty? Thirty? I have no idea. But I know that my old-growth cards can be read also by my nephew.
And right now, on my desk stands a dictionary printed in 1874 (with numerous marginal notes penned by Hugo Gering fine nib!), Which still pays me good service every day.
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