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The paper computer

jsomers.net

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Re: The paper computer

#51

Post by layer8 »

cjs_ac wrote: post #32

> Now that we have actually good AI, I have this vision of a form of computing that doesn’t involve me using a computer so much. Imagine you had the day’s emails to go through. It would be nice if the ones that required a simple decision could be dispatched with a few pen-strokes: I could write down a date that would work for that meeting; check a box to accept that invitation; etc. This reminds me of those predictio…

Don’t think of it as work, but of what a human would want to spend time doing. In https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47788736, a commentor describes how his kids love using the “paper computer” prototype he built. They are not working, they are playing and learning and experimenting and creating. Things that humans like to do.

Re: The paper computer

#52

Post by WillAdams »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #49
WillAdams wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To some degree, that's what one had w/ Apple's Newton Intelligence on the MessagePad --- it was "just" fancy pattern-matching, but mostly it worked, and the UI and implementation were quite good, and it kept me organized all through college.

Mentioning the Newton may be anathema to the discussion (it seems to bring up the usual jokes, etc.) but I was thinking too that the Macintosh (or the Xerox Alto if you like, or the Mother of All Demos) tried to move us in that direction by "skeuomorphising" the computer interface—make it look like the more familiar "real world". The Newton pushed further. It seems to have been on the mind of at least a few people at…

Charles de Lint had an intelligent book in his fantasy novel _Jack the Giant Killer_ (or maybe its sequel) --- I've tried doing the conversing/chatting thing w/ an LLM a couple of times, but always got annoyed more than amused.

What's the point? LLMs tend towards the mean/average --- I want better in my life and interactions --- it's useful when I need an example DXF or similar rote task, but my current project is a woodworking joint which has no precedent.

Yes, the skeumorphism angle is an interesting one, and one which is surprisingly absent in the _ur_ description of a stylus equipped computing device, the slates/tablets from Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's _The Mote in God's Eye_ --- this sort of thing seems to be coming back around --- a recent Kindle Scribe firmware update add shape recognition. I'd be _very_ pleased if my new Kindle Scribe Coloursoft could fully become a replacement for my Newton....

Re: The paper computer

#55

Post by layer8 »

smj-edison wrote: post #9
charlieboardman wrote: post #7

Receive email, render page with the email and a reply section and a unique ID, print it out physically Human picks up all the sheets out of the printer, writes out replies with pen Human puts the stack of answered email sheets in a multi-page scanner Scanner physically scans them, agent transcribes them and matches them back to the incoming emails via the unique ID on each sheet, sends replies You could adjust this f…

I will say scanners are somewhat unergonomic, but if you had a high enough definition camera, you could photograph the document in its "natural environment". Granted, it's harder to get an evenly lit picture that way, but I think it's a nicer interface.

Scanners with automatic feeders are ergonomic when you have to scan more than a page or two. Just place your stack of paper in the feeder and press start. I had a job where I used to do that routinely, and no way a camera would have been more convenient.

Re: The paper computer

#56

Post by password4321 »

pugio wrote: post #14

Paper Computing (great name!) is something I've been thinking about a lot to help my kids benefit from tech without exposing them to the brain melting addiction of screens. I sacrificed a few crazy nights of sleep to try to build a Paper Computer Agent prototype for a recent Gemini hackathon (only to disappointingly have submission issues right before the actual deadline) which my kids loved and keep asking me to set…

R.I.P. to the Amazon Glow video calling device, killed before AI went mainstream. I'd love to hear how to get root on one... exactly the hardware your project could use most effectively and an amazing interface for playing games remotely with the grandparents.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/20/23415167/amazon-glow-sup...

Re: The paper computer

#57

Post by jdelman »

tomalbrc wrote: post #46
pugio wrote: post #14

Paper Computing (great name!) is something I've been thinking about a lot to help my kids benefit from tech without exposing them to the brain melting addiction of screens. I sacrificed a few crazy nights of sleep to try to build a Paper Computer Agent prototype for a recent Gemini hackathon (only to disappointingly have submission issues right before the actual deadline) which my kids loved and keep asking me to set…

[flagged]

What exactly do you believe to be dangerous? Your comment comes off as judgmental rather than genuine.

Re: The paper computer

#58

Post by JKCalhoun »

WillAdams wrote: post #52
JKCalhoun wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mentioning the Newton may be anathema to the discussion (it seems to bring up the usual jokes, etc.) but I was thinking too that the Macintosh (or the Xerox Alto if you like, or the Mother of All Demos) tried to move us in that direction by "skeuomorphising" the computer interface—make it look like the more familiar "real world". The Newton pushed further. It seems to have been on the mind of at least a few people at…

Charles de Lint had an intelligent book in his fantasy novel _Jack the Giant Killer_ (or maybe its sequel) --- I've tried doing the conversing/chatting thing w/ an LLM a couple of times, but always got annoyed more than amused. What's the point? LLMs tend towards the mean/average --- I want better in my life and interactions --- it's useful when I need an example DXF or similar rote task, but my current project is a…

I think you're right that the use case for an LLM is still rather niche. It's perhaps still worth exploring though as they may well improve over time.

Regardless, I have still found them useful. Diagnosing the problems with a car is maybe an esoteric example but is still useful.

For many months now I have been working through learning about and implementing a hobbyist analog computer with LLM as engineer-confidant. I already knew the basics of op-amps and analog computing but was surprised at a lot of the new things I discovered only by way of the LLM saying (for example), "Hey, here's a nice way to get your reference voltages…" and the project benefited from it (and I learned about a new chip/device/technique).

Re: The paper computer

#59

Post by funksta »

fragmede wrote: post #23
funksta wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was my gut reaction as well as an eInk enthusiast, but I think the author is looking for something quite different. As much as the rM is a calmer, slower-paced device by design, it's still a device with a screen that doesn't have the same physical affordances and spatial flexibility as pieces of paper.

Remarkable is it though. where it wins, is that I can select an arbitrary region, and copy and paste and resize . Can't do that with pen and paper.

I agree, absolutely love my reMarkable for those reasons, as well as not needing to manage the _annoying_ physical properties of paper (storage, organization) any more

Re: The paper computer

#60

Post by thundergolfer »

throwthrowuknow wrote: post #35

Unfortunately, I don’t this will work until we have robot secretaries that can automate updating paper wall calendars and documents and books scattered around a room. The only compromise would be a limited area like a physical desktop that had affordances like an overhead camera and some form of paper output.

I think a bigger blocker is that this is a read-only environment for the computer when we need readwrite.

It’s fantastic that computers can be so effective at this read-only work but so much of what I do needs write feedback from the machine.

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