LEONARDO'S LAPTOP

(1) Discuss what you understand “the old computing” to be.
(2) Discuss what you understand “the new computing” to be.
(3) Similar to how Leonardo da Vinci foresaw inventions such as the plane and
helicopter 500 years ago, it has been said that Vanaver Bush described the World
Wide Web and digital cameras in his 1945 “The Atlantic Monthly” article, “As
We May Think.”
a. Do you think that in the future Bush will be regarded in a manner similar
to how we regard Da Vinci today?
b. Discuss the value or lack thereof that you place on the person who
envisions an idea without implementing that idea.
(4) Describe a scenario that you would like technology to be able to support in the
future. Describe what you and it would do without worrying about whether we
have the technology to do it as of yet.
(5) A mere 72 pages of Leonardo’s writing fetched over $30 million in 1994. It is
estimated that he created over 13,000 pages of works over his lifetime (though
fewer than 5,000 pages survive).
a. As more and more work is committed to electronic media, do you think
electronic documents will exist in the future that will be so highly valued?
b. The fragile nature and uniqueness of paper could make the existence of
around 35% of da Vinci’s work impressive. If he had the ability to store
his works on computers, discuss whether you think the percentage of his
writings available today would be higher or lower and explain your
reasoning.
(6) Discuss what you see as one of the greatest dangers of the direction technology’s
infusion into society could hold. Do you think the potential benefits of
technology warrant taking the risks of developing it?

PART 2.
(1) What have been the five most frustrating experiences you have personally had
using modern technology?
(2) Keep a log for three days in which you make entries for frustrating experiences
you have (a) with computers, (b) with other technologies, and (c) with traditional
items such as paper. At the end of this period review your logs and discuss what
changes (if any) you plan to make in your daily activities based upon these
observations.
(3) There exist forums for reporting problems of various sorts.
a. Describe a situation in which you would write to the Better Business
Bureau about a store and what response you would hope for.
b. Describe a situation in which you would write to Underwriters Laboratory
Inc. about a device and what response you would hope for.

PART 3.
(1) Think back to your educational experiences to date.
a. What was one of the most rewarding educational experiences?
b. Was technology involved? If so, how?
c. Can you imagine some way in which technology could have made this
experience better, or enable this experience to be applied to other less
rewarding educational experiences? If so, how?