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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 18, 1963)
MEDKOKD .MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDKOKD, OKEtiON WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 18, lUKI The Story of Automation -Part Humans Stil WASHINGTON (UP!) - The average man uses only about 10 per cent o( his brain power, and this has caused many frightening predictions that some day he will build a ma chine so smart that it will over whelm the human race. Rest easy. We still have a big bulge over the mechanical devices we are creating. Computers can do many mar velous! things, but they cannot think. They are helpless unless a human being feeds into them accurate information. Once they get the information, they can come up with the answer at a speed which the human brain cannot match. The DuPont Co. once used a computer to solve within 30 hours a chemical problem that would have taken a man 20 years on the arithme tic alone. Computers have infallible me mories. They can store away vast numbers of facts and reach for the right one at the right time. No human brain could carry the mass of infor mation that a computer handles with ease. Several years ago the United States Treasury pur chased a computer that did the work of 450 clerks. Automation embraces many things besides computers. Drive through the countryside at har vest time and you will under stand immediately why there has been a surge from the farms to the cities. Machines are doing the work that men used to do. Or step into a mod ern building with self service elevators and press a button for your floor. Automatic elevators have thrown 40,000 men and women out of work in New York City alone. All Have It Every factory of any size in the nation has some degree of automation, and the machines are formidable looking things. But the computers are the gla mor boys of automation be cause they seem to come closer than anything else to the proc ess of thinking. They come in all shapes and sizes and prices. International Business Machines has a data processing system designed to solve business and scientific problems. It rents for $70,000 a month or sells for $3,134,500. Computers can compose sim ple tunes, but Richard Rogers and Irving Berlin are not going to be put out of business imme diately because the machines can't cope with such intricate musical constructions as "Some Enchanted Evening" and "White Christmas." Computers can write simple poems if you feed them the right stuff. You have to put a rhyme scheme of words (June and moon) into their memory banks, indicate the meter desired and the sub ject of the poem. Shakespeare still sounds much better. Com puters can play chess and checkers with skill simply be cause all possible moves are stored away and the right one can be summoned instantly. AH of these things attract at- Enjoy ! ulge Over Mech anical Devices tention because with them we seem to be moving toward a "thinking machine" Ihat has human brain power and intui tion. But they are not the things that cause the furious contro versy over automation. What the argument is all about is computers that replace people. Several years ago the Southern Railroad put a computer to work on its accounting and sta tistical problems. It saved the company $850,000 in the first year of operation. It also replaced some people. By now most of the exports have taken their stand on the effects of automation on our daily lives. Generally speaking, management people contend au tomation will create more jobs than it eliminates. Unions ar gue thj contrary and keep pressing for immediate action to provide work for persons j they are confident will be rthrown out of their jobs by ma i chines. I In this swirling battle it is un usual to find a manufacturer of automation machines who, in j many respects, agrees with the I unions and speaks his views frankly. He is John I. Snyder, president and chairman of the board of U.S. Industries, Inc., New York. Last month he went before the national convention of the AFL-CIO and spoke his pic :. He attacked what he j called "the myths of automation": That automation does not eliminate jobs. Snyder: "De troit is Ihe center of automa tion and as a result is one of our eoutnry's largest and most critical unemployment areas." That automation will create enough jobs to match the num ber of persons thrown out of work. Snyder: "If Ihe equival-j ent number of workers replaced by automalion were required lo build the machines and sys tems, there would be no point in aulomaling." j That unemployed persons j can be retrained lo woiK in automated offices and factories. Snyder: "In Huntington, W.Va., more than 1,000 hard-core un employed were notified about an area redevelopment training program, wmy iwu uhik uiu ap titude tests and only 240 quali fied." Form Partnership Snyder, of course, is not try ing to halt the sale of his own machines, but he insists the time has come to stop talking about automation and do some thing. He has taken the first step by forming with the ma chinists union an organization called "The American Founda tion on Automalion and Em ployent." A. J. Hayes, presi (' .t of the union, is co-chairman of the foundation. The announced purpose of Ihs foundation is to find some for mula under which Snyder can keep selling his machines and Hayes can keep his men work ing. Next: More leisure for Ilia worker: Blessing or evil. " 2 Sf4 XlICK "Vs EST Self-Correcting Secretary Needed WASHINGTON (UPl) - The U. S. Patent Office issued a patent this week for a "self correcting typewriter ribbon." It was described as the answer to a secretary's prayer. A secretary I know put one on her typewriter and it worked fine. The ribbon hasn't made a mistake yet. Now if only someone will in vent a self-correcting secretary, the world will be a better place in with to dictate. Actually, the "self-correcting" label is a bit of a misnomer. The ribbon was not designed to correct its own mistakes but to make it easier for a secretary to correct hers, should have an "error key" that would change Ihe ribbon posi tion automatically. He feels that way because he also has invented an error key At present, the erasure part of the ribbon is while. There fore, it only works on white paper. But Wolowitz said plans are afoot to produce it in pas tel shades, which will make it possibly to rectify colorful mis takes. There is one problem, how ever, that has not been solved. The ribbon can only make eras ures on one copy at a time. That will prove to be a handi cap for government secretaries, William Wolowitz. a local man who make all of their mistakes who invented it, has high hopes m triplicate. that it will become a commer cial success. He conceded, how. ever, that it is not a "panacea." Still Slight Problem In other words, the ribbon will j not solve the problem of a sec retary who can't spell "pana cea." She will still need a dic tionary. Or a smart office boy. The fact that Wolowitz's in vention is not the final answer to typing errors was demon strated in a press release that I received from the Spellripht Corp., which markets the rib bon. Whoever typed the release goofed up the patent number. Made it 3144447 instead of 3114447. Had the secretary who typed the release caught the mistake at the time, she could have cor rected it with the ribbon, which has an inked strip for typing and chalked strip for erasing. Here Is Procedure The nrocedure is as follows Italian Premier Faces Another Crucial Test ROME (UPI) Aldo Moro, bolstered by a vote of con fidence from the chamber of deputies, today faced another crucial test in the Italian sen ate. The senate debate is expect ed to end Saturday with another victory for Moro's new, center- left coalition government. Tues day night the chamber voted in t favor, of the government by 350 1 to 233 with 4 abstentions and 43 absences. But more trouble lay ahead ! for Vice Premier Pietro Nen ni's left-wing Socialists, part ners in the coalition with Moro's Backspace to the first 4 and 1 Christian Democrats, the Social I SLIOKS I JACKETS 11 SWEATERS I DRESS HATS f & All Styles and Lengths njfkp Selection .. . Values From $8.95 to $13.95 W Values to $9.98 3tt a Truly Fine Gift , I CtiQQ REGULAR $9.98 $K99T$99 I 3) iOO T5.00 Msh TO $19.98 2 0 S 1,1s tftNlMf ffi99 KNIT SHIRTS I A C17QQ (U) iSf Kfl iai Values From $3.98 to $6.98 & 3'-yy I w 1 $49 57399 s,eves I 0tmm to SI 7.99 Ji to 514.99 & ti short $ ffj M(D)IBIIMS(DM DBffi. PURE- Iffefl'l J-Rk tp Quaiity Apprei- (5?r 1 r fa! 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He feels that typewriters of the future High Rise Housing Set for Portland PORTLAND iUPI) - The Portland Housing Authority is planning a new $4 million high rise apartment unit here, ac cording to an jly ri ' government's alleged weakness who termed the proposal communism chanced Democrats and the Republi cans. Twenty - five pro-Communists within the Socialist party walked out of the chamber Tuesday night rather than vote in favor ot the coalition. Measures Considered The party's leaders called a meeting to consider disciplinary measures against the rebels, and a formal split within the ranks appeared almost certain in the next few days. Apart from the secession by the pro-Communists and a one man revolt by right-wing Re publican Randolfo Pacciardi, the four-party coalition held fast. The margin of victory was considered solid. Conservative Christian Demo crats who had threatened to walk out to protest the new WHITE CORDS 5.49-3.99 S,I0S w. 6.494.99 HUSKY WHITE CORDS Waist Siie 27 to 34 - V"TiT" T Odds & Ends SWEAT SHIRTS 1.98-$1.29 3.49-$2.49 UNLINED and WINTER JACKETS $ 5.49-$-3.99 SI A OQ$10 OO 2-20 IUiU" IAi' SPORT COATS $12.98-$ 8.99 $22.98-$14.99 their minds following a Vatican and voted to support "u-asteftll ' .,.1,1 - lA DnH. land Home Builders Associa ion PP' moimn that the authority plan-' Moro- ned the building in the area of SV Yamhill and Taylor and Ifith and 17:h avenues. Hallberg said he was "strong lv opposed I" hi8n cost' msh L..:u:r fnr nuhlii hnlis- ins Tie suggested instead that f completion of , , 74.ono na-ine-storv frame housing be built. ' I'-ral gas P''"p,hV rthw-es u. ..'-.a ih ritv Council had . Natural Gas Co. trom Corvalhs Iir floiu ."- . yet to approve the site and sug Cofvos-Pfiomotri Gas Line Opened PHILOMATH, Ore. (UPI) -' Brief ceremonies Monday mark- iesled it was "probably the last place where this could be stopped." to Philomath Philomath is the 5Sth incor porated community in Oregon lo be served by Northwest Natural. 6-20 COTTON CASUALS -Odds & Ends $2.98-$1.99 Work P.mt $4.98$2.99 Long and Short Sleeve COTTON SHIRTS $2.29$ 1.49 $3.49-$2.49 WE VALIDATE PARK & SHOP TICKETS WITHOUT ASKING ...in doubt? Give a Robinson Bros. let Him Choose HIS Gift at HIS Store! OPEN NIGHTS UNTIL 9 Eicapt . Saturday, Dec. 21 Convenient parking nukti it io cjiv to visit Robinion Boi., Pick'i ft other down town Medford itorea lr thopi. USE THEM thcy'rt FREE when you ihop DOWN TOWN IN MEDFORD! We validate Pxrk & Shop tickets without itking. BEST PLACE IN TOWN TO BUY SHOES FINEST BRANDS TOP IN COMFORT Why Nor Give SHOES? Real Buys i n . . . MEN'S SHOES REGULAR $9.95 TO $24.95 $6 5115 BDRdDS Next to Pick's Apparel -If Men and Beys Wear It-We Carry It! o G a,
