“Mother? let me tell you about my Mother…”

(no prizes for googling the movie ref.)

No credit to me. I sent the image to TinEye and got a direct hit. It is sooooo hard to ask a question these days that you can’t just answer by google (or the moral equivalent in this case).

I was the first student in my school (Sweden, 1972) who had a calculator. All the teachers had to meet and decide if they were going to even allow me to bring it to school. They were wise and let me use it except on tests, and the next year everybody were given calculators and could use them on most tests.

We are living in the middle of such a revolution once again. The question is a bit differently phrased, but the essence is the same; how socially/academically acceptable is it to artificially augment your natural capabilities?

People sound smarter when interviewed when they have google handy. Are they smarter? I would argue yes, we (human+computer) are smarter than humans alone. Some undoubtedly disagree. That’s OK.

Here is the question that really interests me: How long before it becomes uncivilized to _not_ be augmented.

My guess is less than 20 years, possibly just 10-15 before it is as rude to claim authority without augmentation as it is today to publish a print article without checking the spelling (dictionary, computer or proof reader, your choice.)