768: 1996 - Revision history

172.71.241.27: Primarily 'required' when originally transcluded to Main page?

2025-02-13T13:44:16Z

Primarily 'required' when originally transcluded to Main page?

Firestar233 at 04:30, 13 February 2025

2025-02-13T04:30:00Z

42.book.addict at 18:21, 25 October 2024

2024-10-25T18:21:46Z

108.162.246.58: Updated comments regarding coding "friends" to include recent advances in AI

2024-09-26T23:53:02Z

Updated comments regarding coding "friends" to include recent advances in AI

172.69.223.151: /* Explanation */

2023-12-07T17:34:58Z

‎Explanation

172.70.223.134: /* Explanation */

2023-07-02T17:57:05Z

‎Explanation

Jacky720: rv

2022-05-04T23:50:59Z

Show changes

Ex Kay Cee Dee at 23:50, 4 May 2022

2022-05-04T23:50:56Z

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Jacky720: rv

2022-05-04T21:22:38Z

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Ex Kay Cee Dee at 21:21, 4 May 2022

2022-05-04T21:21:59Z

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-<noinclude>{{distinguish|1996: Morning News}}</noinclude>
+{{distinguish|1996: Morning News}}
 {{comic
 | number    = 768

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-<noinclude>:''This page refers to the comic named "1996". For comic #1996, see [[1996: Morning News]].''</noinclude>
+<noinclude>{{distinguish|1996: Morning News}}</noinclude>
 {{comic
 | number    = 768

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:21, 25 October 2024
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	[[Category:Computers]]		[[Category:Computers]]
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 The title text then reminds us that when they were new, TI calculators were relatively powerful tools if you knew how to use them. TI-Basic was a fairly versatile programming language that could be used to make anything from games to reference files to computational programs.
-The second half of the title text is a reminder to those of us who felt like gods for knowing how to program that power comes at a price—in this case, the power to program a calculator costs [[866: Compass and Straightedge|friends]]. Since, as of this comic's publication date, no program yet devised had truly passed a Turing test, even the most sophisticated {{w|Chatterbot}} (program designed to mimic conversation) couldn't quite qualify as a friend. As of June 2014, however, [http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/08/super-computer-simulates-13-year-old-boy-passes-turing-test a computer convinced 33% of the people who spoke to it that it was a human, qualifying it to pass the Turing Test]. Though some [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/09/turing-test-eugene-goostman_n_5474457.html skepticism] on this point is [http://www.popsci.com/blog-network/boxplot/did-chatbot-really-pass-turing-test needed], as it only passed the University's contest, not the actual {{w|Turing test}}.
+The second half of the title text is a reminder to those of us who felt like gods for knowing how to program that power comes at a price—in this case, the power to program a calculator costs [[866: Compass and Straightedge|friends]]. Since, as of this comic's publication date, no program yet devised had truly passed a Turing test, even the most sophisticated {{w|Chatterbot}} (program designed to mimic conversation) couldn't quite qualify as a friend. As of Febuary, 2022, however, a study by a professor in the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences published a [https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2313925121 paper] demonstrating that Open AI's ChatGPT could in fact pass the Turing test. This proves ChatGPT could act as a "friend" to users as Randal seems to wish was possible on TI-Basic. Furthermore, a 2024 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bicjxl4EcJg youtube video] adds ChatGPT functionality to a TI calculator, albeit with some hardware modifications to connect to the internet.
 Being unable to "make" friends was also later mentioned in [[866: Compass and Straightedge]].

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 There has been a stunning amount of progress in pretty much any measurable dimension of technology since 1996. We laugh at our prior naivete, pointing out that what would be a non-functionally awful computer now was considered state of the art at that time. Likewise with a {{w|PalmPilot|Palm Pilot}}, arguably a precursor to today's omnipresent smartphones. {{w|Texas Instruments|Texas Instrument (TI)}} calculators, however, appear to have been left behind, not having made any significant advances (or price drops) since the newly discovered issues of the US computer magazine ''{{w|Computer Shopper (US magazine)|Computer Shopper}}'' were published. Thus, while we groan at how awful our state of the art technologies truly were in 1996, we are reminded that some technologies have remained in relative stasis over the years.
-The title text mentions {{w|College Board}}, the organization that runs the SAT and AP tests. It alludes to the fact that College Board's practice of only allowing (or requiring) specific models is at the root of how TI can charge high prices for stagnant technology, although these days they allow numerous models including the open-source Numworks calculator.
+The title text mentions {{w|College Board}}, the organization that runs the SAT and AP tests. It alludes to the fact that College Board's practice of only allowing (or requiring) specific models is at the root of how TI can charge high prices for stagnant technology, although these days they allow numerous models including the (previously) open-source Numworks calculator.
 The title text then reminds us that when they were new, TI calculators were relatively powerful tools if you knew how to use them. TI-Basic was a fairly versatile programming language that could be used to make anything from games to reference files to computational programs.