Human Work in a Computer Age: ASIS Special Award Winner Herb Simon Addresses the Annual Meeting

Abstract

Herbert A. Simon, 1978 Nobel Prize winner, received the 1998 Special Award of ASIS in recognition of his research in, and the magnitude of his contributions to, computer science, psychology, economics, philosophy and numerous other fields. Preceding the presentation of the award at the recent ASIS Annual Meeting, Simon spoke to the gathered information professionals. Researcher Herbert A. Simon discussed some of the challenges facing humanity as it strives to deal with information, computers, nature and its own societal shortcomings. Simon, who won the 1978 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, talked about Human Work in a Computer Age at the opening plenary session of the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science in Pittsburgh. ASIS President Michael Buckland introduced the Carnegie Mellon University professor by quoting from one of Simon's works: What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hencea wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it. Simon notes that the lot of forecasters is not easy. He points out how astrologers of old faced a deadly dilemma. If their forecasts were unfavorable, they were imprisoned, tortured or beheaded. If their forecasts were favorable, but inaccurate, they met the same fate. He says that people really do not want forecasts of the future; they want assurances of the future. They want to know everything will turn out all right. So, he notes wryly, "in inviting me here to talk about the future of our species and our work in the next millennium, you are giving me very little incentive to level with you!" Simon notes another problem with predicting human affairs. In nature, solar and lunar eclipses take place in a particular place and at a particular time no matter what we do, but human affairs are our affairs, usually about what we do or don't do. So something is wrong with the concept of "prediction" of human affairs. The objective really is not to make predictions but to propose futures. We want to propose futures that are desirable, certainly tolerable. We do not want to propose utopias; they cannot be realized. We cannot repeal the laws of nature. Our plans must account for the things we propose to do, the things we propose to change, the laws of nature that govern them and the laws of human nature that are so flexible they are hard to use for predictions. We also need goals, Simon says, conditions for "satisficing" the needs of the human condition. These goals will also describe the negative things we wish to minimize. We should be careful not to include goals like perfection of human morality or intelligence or the body. Simon states there have been two great planning experiments in his lifetime. The first was the Soviet Union; the second was the People's Republic of China. Both experiments depended on and tried to bring about a reform in human character. But whatever they accomplished – good and bad – they did not change human character. Russians and Chinese still behave very much like humans in the rest of the world. Simon turns next to information. He says he accepts without argument the premise that during the last half-century we have been passing through the early stages of a profound revolution. He also argues that there is vastly more to come. We humans spend the vast majority of our time processing information. It is as vital to our survival as processing food. Information processing begins with sensing; it ends with acting. And it involves everything that goes on inside us in between. It also involves not only our nerves, but also the "nerves" of our computers and of our communication nets. This is the third information revolution, he says. The first was the slow one that turned apes into human beings and greatly enlarged the information processes we call thinking. It introduced language as a vi