Peter Cochrane's Hard Drive 1996
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Peter Cochrane's Hard Drive column appears each week in the Connected section of the Daily Telegraph.
This page lists articles published in 1996. Articles published in 1997 1998 1999 2000 are also available.
For more information about Peter Cochrane and copies of other publications, visit his company's homepage: http://www.conceptlabs.net
Machines with minds? - 31.12.96
The hard wiring of the human brain gives us few clues as to our conscious being, the way we function or operate
Why it's better to work flat out - 24.12.96
By lying a computer screen flat and looking straight down, we can improve our ability to edit by up to 20%
The empirical strikes back - 17.12.96
You get on a machine and you fly until you crash, and then you reset and start again. As a process it is handbook-free
Artificial life may find the meaning - 10.12.96
Software that writes itself in a similar manner to the evolutionary process of life is now a crude reality
Beam up a new type of human - 3.12.96
All the technology now looks ripe and the Star Trek 23rd-century badge communicator is feasible?
Filing away at the middle ranks - 26.11.96
In modern business there is no status quo - many have moved, or are on the move - and competition leaves us with no choice
Living among the new age nomads - 19.11.96
The reality is that telecoms are doing for the travel industry what the computer did for the paperless office
Why we all need silicon injections - 12.11.96
If we as a species are to compete in a culture dominated by machines, where will we find the brain capacity?
Marketing threat from America - 5.11.96
How could a world such as the Internet, built by a bunch of anoraks, be benefit to, let alone save any business?
Agents for better or for worse - 29.10.96
Someone is bound to create bad agents. In fact anything we have already done in the physical world is likely to be emulated
It's good to talk - to a person - 22.10.96
For at least 65% of the time a machine answers, or we are diverted, ultimately to be ignored or answered by an unknowing human
What price serendipity? - 15.10.96
Information seems to come in two dominant classes: that of no interest, and that which is distracting but of no direct benefit
Reality degradation - 8.10.96
When your image and your voice arrive late, and you sound as if you are tallking down a cardboard tube, communication suffers
Sweet nothings and nice ones - 1.10.96
Driving while using today's mobile phone or computer is dangerous, and illegal. Talking to such devices is easy and safe
Logic in donor cards for robots - 24.9.96
It is inconceivable that we should give a copying machine the intelligence to call for help when it is about to fail, and yet neglect the artificial heart
Memories of bygone days - 17.9.96
While hardware is increasingly powerful, the software race to build the world's heaviest aeroplane sees performance getting worse
Humans get lost in the video blur - 10.9.96
Cameras can be positioned to create the illiusion of eye contact, well-placed microphones can provide a more natural effect
Programmed for the bad old days - 3.9.96
The technology for more efficient communication is available - we have only to adopt the right mindset and implement the solutions
Only a whisper across the sea - 27.8.96
Why can't I buy the facility to call anyone I know by name, anytime or anywhere, and save the wear and tear on my eyes, brain and fingers?
TV phone-in a strange attractor - 20.8.96
Suppose 20 people book into the same hotel with the same software. Every half hour all 20 could be demanding online access
Beggars at the information feast - 13.8.96
The easiest way to break down technophobia is to succumb to the assistance of a child. They come from a world of crash and burn
You use my eyes and I'll use yours - 6.8.96
Why view things from a distance? Why not take a beam of photons and inject it into the eye to create a pure image on the retina
Information waves - 30.7.96
While the traffic is dense, the wave motion persists long after the event has subsided. The system has a memory - us
You're not wearing my socks - 23.7.96
Most of us see a PC as a really personal item. Having someone enter our world of data is akin to the prospect of being mugged?
Books and chickens - 16.7.96
We should not deny technology and neither should we use it where it is inappropriate. Paper is very user-friendly, but limited?
Emotional icons - 9.7.96
A nervous icon might shiver at a potentially risky action, while an unsure icon might retreat and become elusive
Telecommute on a speck of oil - 2.7.96
Images of the wrong size and colour, that become blurred and jerky and do not permit eye contact or body language
A uni-heap on the beach - 25.6.96
People often seem to confuse communication, quality and quantity, and it is often better to bin than to read and file
Flying blind - 18.6.96
Without computers the world of complexity would remain hidden. Chaos and fractals cannot be explored without the screen
Death by instalments - 11.6.96
At what point are you going to say it is not me inhabiting an amalgam of flesh, blood, metal and electronics?
The infinite city - 4.6.96
Machines don't commit crimes, rarely make mistakes, and are truly objective. They can work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
12 days to 12 hours - 28.5.96?
No phone, hotel or office was safe. As soon as I entered I would plug in, log on, drop my processed mail, then pick up the next batch?
5 or 50 - 21.5.96
Children seldom use handbooks - theirs is a crash and burn world of trial and error, of exchanging ideas and learning by doing
VR - Just in Time - 14.5.96
We can now step inside the atom, fly a proton and experience fission, rather than just gaze at a set of complex equations
Virtual TV - 7.5.96
The user interface has to surpass the dreaded VCR... Making information available to anyone between 3 and 90 is the great challenge
Banking on IT - 30.4.96
In 20 years, the concept of regional currencies is likely to have been assigned to museums as the obvious alternative takes over
The office you wear - 23.4.96
Sitting still we radiate approximately 60 watts... a potential source of power to drive an office
Dead 100% - 16.4.96
Capturing the soul of man