We started with Babbage’s gears, and arithmetic.
We moved to switches and numeric codes and formulae.
We moved to vacuum tubes and assembly language and programs.
We moved to transistors and short code language and operating systems, and hierarchical databases.
We moved to chips of transistors and human readable language, and networks, and binary communication, and relational databases.
We moved to networks of systems, human-readable documents, distributed networks and string communication.
We move to browser-as-operating system, and virtualization, and the storage of documents as databases.
Then to the browser-as-operating system on both client and server, using documents to transfer information. And we have begun experimenting with human language commands.
We have slowly replaced the mechanical, with the binary, with the string, and finally the document.
And we have taken the browser’s string-operating system,
And we have transferred the browser’s string operating system to the server.
We are slowly approaching where a command consists of the evolution of a ‘document’ (context), iteratively constructed from human language, then submitted as a query to a network of documents, in search of an answer stored as similar documents and indexed as relations.
The original authors of Lisp should be proud because while more expensive, it was they who were on the right track. But like many competitors, a superior technology (lisp/betamax) could not compete with a less costly one(c/vhs).
And when that happens a generational leap of significant value is required to correct the prior ‘error’ made by ‘rational’ market choice.
You see, google is actually inhibiting the evolution of artificial intelligence. Honestly. Why?
Because their monetary incentive is to provide you with inaccurate results that you must humanly parse – or they would have no opportunity to advertise, except by interrupting you.
So google will be put out of business by document-context searches the same way that view-ad-to-access video has failed.
What we need is to construct a document (query) with enough context to return the question that we’re asking. When that happens there will no longer be an opportunity to advertise. Why? Because someone will come along and offer access to ad-free searches for a few dollars a year, leaving google as the search engine of those without money.
(And yes we were working on this back in 2007)
Cheers