To think this was written almost 70 years ago is crazy and a little spooky. The idea of a logic, or a computer. that can answer questions, connect individuals, and give advice is exactly the world we live in today. Things like Siri and Google now have made the story even more like our modern lives where we are able to just speak to our electronic devices like they are intelligent, self aware beings.
Certain aspects of the story seemed particularly prophetic. One of my favorite shows is Forensic Files, it is a crime investigation show where forensics are used to convict killers and solve mysteries. I have seen most of the episodes and many of them are about husbands or wives killing their spouses. Many of the investigators used forensics involved with computers and analyzing people's hard drives and internet searches. The detectives were able to pull things off of computers even after they had been erased and what they found would be used to convict the criminals or tie the crime to him or her. Very often what they would find would be internet searches about how to kill your spouse, exactly like what happened in Joe The Logic. When twisted individuals decide they want to do something like commit a murder they know they can turn to the internet for anonymous and detailed answers. Just like in the story people everyday use the world's collective knowledge that is the internet to try and hatch schemes with the intent of hurting or terrorizing others.
Another interesting correlation between the story and reality is the personal connection between people that Joe created. The ability to search for someone and potentially violate someone's privacy. Things are so similar today, if we hear something about someone what do we do? We immediately go to the internet. If it’s someone famous we just Google them and there seems to always be a wealth of information available. If it’s someone not famous we can typically still find stuff out on Facebook or twitter. With everyone being connected it is hard to keep things as private as people used to be able to.
Another correlation was the sexual advice that Joe was able to give out to kids. The internet is an amazing tool and very useful, but it is also full of material that isn’t for all ages and from some perspectives for any age. Young kids are often exposed to pornographic material at a young age because of how accessible it is. Adult material used to only be available in magazines or special movies, now you can access literally millions of pornographic or sexually explicit sites from your phone while sitting in the park. That is to say it’s always available, literally from anywhere. This idea in A Logic Named Joe was very prophetic. Children are curious by nature and when there is suddenly accessibility to what seems like an infinite amount of information it is very difficult to protect or stop children from accessing harmful material.
It’s interesting that the author of the story has Ducky ultimately shut Joe off to “save the civilization.” With all of his foresight when he wrote this it is very intriguing that that is the conclusion he came to. Most of us live and die by the internet and the devices we use to connect to it and our world probably couldn’t function without them. We would at least have to relearn how to function because of how big of a part they play in our lives. So that’s the question, is our amazing ability to access information and stay connected damaging? I think that is very debateable, with the good comes the bad. I see technology as a positive thing, but it has rotten portions. If we can avoid these the “Joe” world isn’t a bad one, but people will always use powerful tools like the internet to promote terrorism, sexual exploitation, violence, and debased human behavior.
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