Hypothetical Question #2: If humans stopped using computers, would computers cease to, well, compute? Or in a less hypothetical view, can computers exist and operate without the need of human interaction? Do we need computers, or do they need us?
Most people would agree that yes, if a tree fell in a forest, it would make a sound. Whether or not there is anyone there to hear it is irrelevant. Conversely, if we were to stop using computers ["if a tree fell..."], they would cease to operate ["it would make a sound, regardless"]. This seems obvious, right?
Well, not necessarily. One could argue that computers have their own minds, and in many ways, they do. They are capable of performing complex equations, and in turn, outputting information that is readily available to the user in minutes, sometimes seconds. If you left a computer running on its own, it would still go about its computer-way, figuring out things and being smart. But eventually it will run out of gas, run out of reason to perform. Computers need a guide, someone to tell them what to do and when.
Our own minds and computers have very much in common. People, too, are capable of complex thinking, capable of solving multi-dimensional equations, and capable of storing mass amounts of information. But, our brains are still far superior; we can store thousands of times more information than a super-computer ever could, and we are even more complex than computers, because we have the ability to think and reason.
Computers are tools. They need an outside force to control them. Generally speaking, they enhance our lives. But we shouldn't forget that they are man-made objects. They need us. We don't need them. Just like noises in a forest.
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