> BUT, the internet is all too often delphic in its utterances and you
> have to  sort the wheat from the much chaff, so maybe the Alexandrian
> library misses the vote :-).

I agree as far as Google is concerned, the intelligence is with the user 
asking the question, not Google (i.e depends hugely on correct terms used 
etc). I read somewhere a while back that there was a group working on an 
"intelligent"(neural network etc), oracle like engine that you could ask a 
question of in a normal fashion, and it would interpret and find either an 
answer or some *relevant* results. IIRC, they were predicting it would 
replace google as the search engine of choice. A kind of intelligent cross 
between Wiki and Google, or something.

Trouble is with all this stuff, at what point will we stop thinking for 
ourselves entirely, if everything is done for us? :) To give an example - I 
went to buy some wood the other day, and asked for a certain type, the chap 
at the checkout  ( of the *very* small establishment) said he didn't know 
whether they had any in stock, if they did it was in the (you guessed it) 
stock room. I asked him to check, and he proceeded to look on the computer 
to see if there was any. Computer said no, so that was it as far as he was 
concerned. I asked him politely to "actually" go and look. He grunted and 
marched off, returning a minute later with the required wood looking a 
little sheepish. Of course he blamed it on the computer, BUT - 50 years ago, 
if you went to the local shop, whatever it sold, chances are the storekeeper 
would probably know exactly what/how much of everything he had in, and where 
it was. Is this progress I ask myself?  ( I suppose it is, but surely it's a 
good idea to at least have some back up skills/knowledge in case the 
computer does not perform)
Checkout operators who cannot do simple math etc? (nothing against checkout 
operators in general, just another example) ++Computer  ==  --Common 
sense/ingenuity/resourcefulness?
I suppose the other obvious side to this is the fact that used properly, 
computers are a wonderful tool and can greatly aid us. My argument though is 
that one still needs Common sense/ingenuity/resourcefulness, and I think 
these qualitites may be undervalued nowadays (i.e Computer != answer to all 
problems). Anyway, rant over (not sure what provoked all that :-) ) 


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