So is Brooke Jamieson a Fortran mascot candidate?
Mine was Watfor, on a blazing fast i486 PC running Windows 3.1 switched to Linux a couple of years later and never looked back…
The dinosaur spewing numbers is great! (Post #16)
I think the dinosaur is meant to be “number crunching.” That’s a good one.
Mexico approves of this one!
As you know, we are living in the era of AI, and everyone is using it. How do you see the future? What will the world look like in the coming years, and what further changes can we expect? Can AI bring any significant advancements in the field of medicine as well?
Does it help your balloon business?
Having seen the exciting birth of the utopia of the World Wide Web in the 90’s and seeing the world as it is now, I think the result will be the same with AI: a mixed bag.
That’s what John Backus said in his last interview in 2006:
Interviewer: “Is the world a better place because of all the software that’s been written in your lifetime, or not?”
Backus: “Well, in human terms, probably not. Because it just takes us further and further away from human affairs. But as far as economic, and welfare, it’s done a lot of good. So it’s a mixed bag.
…
But I don’t envy you, I’m afraid. I think that we’re getting more and more technological and less and less human oriented.”
All these give me some ideas for things to put on my office door
Regarding a choice of animal that represents Fortran:
Given that Fortran is never the most visible or popular, any popular predator may be a little unsuitable. I like the rabbit, fox or pigeon as all of them are fast and resilient in their own way, while never being the most popular or visible.
However, if age and survival spirit are to be emphasised, there can only be one option:
The Tardigrade!
We are waiting for your AI images…
I agree with this, and I feel that people are becoming dumber. They are not using their true creativity and are becoming increasingly dependent on AI. I do the same myself—I get a lot of my work done through AI. Nowadays, AI-generated videos are also being made, and it’s hard to tell whether they are real or fake.
Well, it depends also on the way you use it and for which objective. I am certain that it can be used intelligently to accelerate what you already can do yourself, or to learn new things. And it will allow you to build more complex things.
I am sure that it will bring good things, like advances in health. But it is also already used to steal and kill more efficiently. So it is a mixed bag, like all human affairs.
You can also prefer a somewhat more optimistic view, like Pierre Curie 120 years ago in his Nobel lecture about the discovery of radioactivity. The last paragraph is:
It can even be thought that radium could become very dangerous in criminal hands, and here the question can be raised whether mankind benefits from knowing the secrets of Nature, whether it is ready to profit from it or whether this knowledge will not be harmful for it. The example of the discoveries of Nobel is characteristic, as powerful explosives have enabled man to do wonderful work. They are also a terrible means of destruction in the hands of great criminals who are leading the peoples towards war. I am one of those who believe with Nobel that mankind will derive more good than harm from the new discoveries.
feel that people are becoming dumber
I’d be careful not to let that become a generalising statement. When creativity and wit are no longer applied to discipline X, it’s easy to get that feeling and not see that creativity and wit are now simply applied in discipline Y.
That said, AI in coding does pose a serious challenge in teaching coding in the first place. How do you make sure students still learn about some important basics when writing a working piece of code (with the help of AI) no longer requires such an understanding in a classroom setting? How do you teach responsible use of AI in coding? What does that even look like? These are things we don’t really have good answers for yet. I’m involved in a pilot project to set up “classroom experiments” to get some data to have a better basis for discussion and decisions regarding this. Tricky …
That’s a really important point—creativity doesn’t disappear; it just shifts! The challenge with AI in coding education is real, and balancing efficiency with foundational learning is tricky. Your pilot project sounds like a great step toward finding practical solutions, and I’d love to hear what insights you gain. Do you think a mix of AI-assisted and traditional coding exercises could help bridge the gap?