PART 4 - APPLE II AND IBM PC ROCK OUR WORLD
In 1978, I had been working for IBM Federal Systems for 13 years when an advertisement from a startup computer company appeared. It literally changed our world!
My wife and I paid almost $5,000 for this Apple II and two disk drives (the equivalent of around $20,000 in today's dollars). That purchase has paid off many times over!
OUR FAMILY IS "IN THE NEWS"
In May 1980, a couple years after we bought our Apple II, the Owego, NY Middle School was featured in our local newspaper (the Binghamton Press) for obtaining an Apple II and allowing their students to use it.
Naturally, our oldest daughter, Lisa, who had been using our Apple II at home, was chosen to demonstrate the Apple II at her school (see photo below).
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The following month, June 1980, the Binghamton Press again featured the Apple II, this time using a photo of our home computer with our second daughter, Rena, and our youngest, Sara. (Photo above). They also quoted my wife, Vi, as saying "It was for the kids. It's the kids who will be living in the computer age. The sooner they feel comfortable with it the better." They also mentioned that Vi had been taking computer programming classes at Broome Community College.
For my part, I used our Apple II to learn the BASIC programming language. Although it was far from being "portable" I lugged it to work and taught a course at IBM to help prepare other engineers for the coming revolution when every engineer would have a computer by his or her desk.
For my part, I used our Apple II to learn the BASIC programming language. Although it was far from being "portable" I lugged it to work and taught a course at IBM to help prepare other engineers for the coming revolution when every engineer would have a computer by his or her desk.
Lesson #8: WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT
FOR A MAJOR TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE,
BE RIGHT FOR THE TIMES !
GRAB THAT BRASS RING
AND HANG ON TO IT !
THE IBM PC ARRIVES
When, in 1981, IBM finally came out with their first "Personal Computer", it was no surprise that the first one at IBM Federal Systems landed in my office! We also purchased one for home use.
Our first IBM PC joined our Apple II and continued to pay off for us.
Our first IBM PC joined our Apple II and continued to pay off for us.
As shown in the above photo, I used the IBM PC to simulate Multi-Purpose Displays (MPD) for military avionics systems.
Vi continued her computer education at Binghamton University, earning a Masters in Computer Science. She taught Computer Science at Binghamton University and them got a job at IBM Federal Systems where she eventually became the Lead Programmer on our special operations helicopter project.
Vi continued her computer education at Binghamton University, earning a Masters in Computer Science. She taught Computer Science at Binghamton University and them got a job at IBM Federal Systems where she eventually became the Lead Programmer on our special operations helicopter project.
IBM WINS THE AVIONICS SYSTEM INTEGRATION PROJECT FOR THE HH-60 HELICOPTER
I was the Lead System Engineer for the HH-60 Helicopter Project. I was in charge of the Technical Volume in our winning bid package. Key elements of that system were:
- Multi-Purpose Displays (MPD) - Rather than have separate displays for each subsystem (Navigation, Radar, etc.) we had four MPDs (two each for pilot and co-pilot), as shown in the graphic below. The idea that some control buttons on the MPDs would have different labels and meanings in different modes was hard for some managers, engineers, and pilots to understand. My PC simulation helped clarify the basic idea. Indeed, we included an IBM PC and a simulated MPD in the full-size mock-up cockpit we supplied with our proposal.
System Architecture - The government Request for Proposal (RFP) called for one digital Mission Computer (MC) plus a Back-up Computer with limited capability,, in case the main MC failed. I convinced our IBM management to bid TWO identical MCs. Although a second full-function MC would cost more than a less-capable Back-Up Computer, when the cost of logistics and maintenance are accounted for, it is basically a wash.
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We emphasized our Reliable, Survivable, and Functionally Redundant System Architecture in our winning bid. In addition to dual MCs, we had two Display Generators driving the four MPDs. If either Display Generator should fail, the other one could drive all four MPDs. We also had multiple Remote Terminal Units (RTU) to convert back and forth between our digital signals to and from the analog signals still utilized by older avionics.
In the above graphic, the 1982 issue of the IBM Federal Systems Technical Directions magazine featured "The Evolution of Avionics to HH-60D".
MY THOUGHTS ON THE RECENT BOEING 737 MAX FAILURES
When I presented this talk to our Philosophy Club, I took a minute to comment on what seems to me to be some level of malpractice by Boeing in their System Design.
During my IBM career, I visited Boeing in Seattle a couple of times and believed that Boeing was a high-quality aircraft company. I still believe they are.
However, it is incredible to me that they failed to include "reasonableness" tests on the signals their Flight Control Computers were receiving from the airspeed and angle-of-attack sensors, and, as a result, their system decided the aircraft was in danger of stalling. The pilot and co-pilot tried to pull the nose up, but their computer over-rode their attempt, resulting in two fatal crashes.
Yes, the pilots could have turned off the Flight Control System and flown manually, but, apparently, that choice was not properly presented in their training manuals.
As far back as the A-7 avionics system, our digital computer did "reasonableness" tests on sensor data. For example, we had a radar altimeter. If, while in flight, that sensor indicated an unchanging altitude, the computer assumed it had failed.
The 727 MAX computers should have recognized the sensors were not working properly. For example, airspeed can be estimated by using GPS-speed plus or minus wind speed. Angle-of-attack may be estimated using pitch angle and speed, etc. If the sensor signals do not meet "reasonableness" tests, back-up means should automatically be utilized.
IBM GOLDEN CIRCLE
As a result of my efforts on the HH-60 win, I was given an IBM Golden Circle Marketing Award. That included a cash award plus a trip for my wife and me to Hawaii.
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In subsequent years, I lead further research on what I called "The Rational Cockpit and Advanced Automation", featured in the 1984 issue of IBM's Technical Directions.
OUR FAMILY MOVES AHEAD BY DEGREES
In 1983 Vi earned her Masters in Computer Science at Binghamton University. She taught there, then got a job at IBM. She moved up rapidly, becoming the Lead SW Engineer on our key Special Operations Helicopter Project.
Our daughters earned their Bachelors in Science and went on to Graduate Schools (PhD in Immunology, Masters in Business Administration, PhD in Neurology).
However, I had only a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering!
To keep up, I took Graduate courses at Binghamton University, part-time, and earned my Masters in Advanced Technology (1990) and PhD in System Science (1996).
Vi and I were part-time Adjunct Professors at Binghamton University and then taught online Graduate courses at University of Maryland until a few years ago.
Lesson #9: WE ALL LEARN
OUR MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS
FROM LIFE EXPERIENCES.
HOWEVER, NO MATTER
HOW MUCH YOU KNOW
AND HOW SMART YOU ARE,
IT IS ALWAYS BETTER
TO HAVE A
COLLEGE CERTIFICATE
TO "PROVE" IT !
SOME OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF MY IBM CAREER
The photos below show me in a non-flammable flight suit with other IBM engineers during a flight test at Dobbins Air Base in Atlanta.
We were invited to experience a low-altitude night mission! I found it very exciting.
The inside of the helicopter was like a medium size bus, with seats along the walls and vertical poles spaced about 8-feet apart. We were free to walk around during the flight. However, the large side doors and rear ramp were totally open. Therefore, for safety, we each wore a harness and had a ten-foot chain we could connect to any pole.
The flight was in a rural area, so, as night fell, it was quite dark. We each had Night-Vision Goggles that amplified the moonlight. It was a wonderful experience to view the fields and see cows via those goggles. I also walked up to the cockpit to observe the pilots and their cockpit displays.
When our flight was over, the very friendly and highly competent aircrew told us that they would be doing in-air nighttime refueling the following evening - and we were invited! WOW! Of course, we accepted the invitation.
However, I had to be in California for business the morning after our nighttime in-air refueling flight. So, I scheduled myself for the last flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles.
The nighttime refueling flight was even more spectacular than the previous night training mission. We flew as fast as a helicopter could go and met up with a C-130 tanker aircraft that was flying as slowly as a fixed-wing aircraft could go. Standing at the wide-open side door and looking through my Night Vision Goggles, I watched as the C-130 deployed a fuel hose with an aerodynamic basket at the end. Our helicopter had a probe attached at the right front and our pilot maneuvered that probe and inserted it into the fueling basket. Thus connected, we refueled in the air, at night and low altitude. What a sight!
The flight test ended later than expected and I had to catch that flight to California! So, still wearing my flight suit, I ran to my rented car and drove as fast as I could to the Atlanta airport, amazed I had not been stopped for speeding.
Once in the almost deserted terminal, I ran up to the Delta counter and asked the one guy still on duty if I had time to catch my flight. He looked at me in my flight suit and said "You better get steppin'!"
If you are familiar with the Atlanta airport, they have a subway system connecting the main terminal to the buildings where the aircraft are boarded. So, I ran as fast as I could through the almost deserted building and arrived at my gate as quickly as I could.
The flight attendants were happy to see me as they slammed the doors closed behind me and the plane taxied away. The passengers stared at me in my flight suit as I made my way to my seat.
I think the "You better get steppin'!" guy at the Delta counter, noticing my flight suit, thought I was somehow important and that he had called the gate to ask them to hold the airplane for me.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LABORATORY
IBM Federal Systems set up an Artificial Intelligence (AI) laboratory in 1986. I ran Research and Development projects in that lab, directed at developing "AI Aids for the Pilot."
The 1986 issue of the IBM Federal Systems Technical Directions magazine was devoted to "AI is at work at FSD …"
In my talk to the Philosophy Club I told a couple of AI-related jokes.
I was at a military conference and, during lunch, happened to sit at a table with some Air Force pilots. They asked what I was working on and I told them I was considering monitoring the brain waves of Army helicopter pilots to determine if they were becoming mentally overloaded, in which case, the AI portion of the Avionics System would take on more responsibility during the mission.
"That can't work!" said the pilots.
I responded with technical details on how it might work but they still objected.
"It is a well-known fact," one of the Air Force pilots said with confidence, "That Army helicopter pilots DON'T HAVE BRAIN WAVES!"
The above conversation actually happened and is a great example of "friendly" inter-service rivalry.
The second joke has to do with a vision of future aircraft given AI, and I heard it from a colleague who was also working in this area of research:
"Future aircraft will have a crew of two, a human pilot and a dog. The dog's job will be to keep the pilot from touching the controls."
As we move into the Tesla Age, with self-driving automobiles, the above vision may come to pass. For my part, at 80 years of age, self-driving cars can't come soon enough.
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The 1986 issue of the IBM Federal Systems Technical Directions magazine was devoted to "AI is at work at FSD …"
In my talk to the Philosophy Club I told a couple of AI-related jokes.
I was at a military conference and, during lunch, happened to sit at a table with some Air Force pilots. They asked what I was working on and I told them I was considering monitoring the brain waves of Army helicopter pilots to determine if they were becoming mentally overloaded, in which case, the AI portion of the Avionics System would take on more responsibility during the mission.
"That can't work!" said the pilots.
I responded with technical details on how it might work but they still objected.
"It is a well-known fact," one of the Air Force pilots said with confidence, "That Army helicopter pilots DON'T HAVE BRAIN WAVES!"
The above conversation actually happened and is a great example of "friendly" inter-service rivalry.
The second joke has to do with a vision of future aircraft given AI, and I heard it from a colleague who was also working in this area of research:
"Future aircraft will have a crew of two, a human pilot and a dog. The dog's job will be to keep the pilot from touching the controls."
As we move into the Tesla Age, with self-driving automobiles, the above vision may come to pass. For my part, at 80 years of age, self-driving cars can't come soon enough.
The photo above shows a view of our AI Lab as it was featured in the 1986 issue of IBM's Technical Directions magazine.
In 1994, when IBM commercial was experiencing revenue issues, our Division was sold to another company (Loral) and, a few years later, we were sold yet again to Lockheed-Martin Aircraft.
In 1994, when IBM commercial was experiencing revenue issues, our Division was sold to another company (Loral) and, a few years later, we were sold yet again to Lockheed-Martin Aircraft.
Throughout these disruptions, my wife and I continued to work at our very satisfying careers at Owego. I was 55 and eligible to retire from IBM in 1994 and begin receiving a (slightly reduced) retirement income, so I did. I was immediately hired by the new company. When I retired from Lockheed-Martin in 2001, I began receiving retirement income from them, based on my seven years with the new company. In 1994, Vi was not old enough to retire from IBM, so her IBM years were folded into the new company and when she retired in 1999, she began receiving retirement income based on her 15 total years at Owego.
AUTHOR OF CHAPTERS IN TWO BOOKS
In 1992 I wrote a chapter in Clifford A. Pickover's book Visions of the Future - Art, Technology and Computing in the 21st Century. In my chapter, "Will Computers Really THINK in the 21st Century" I conclude that they very well might do so, but that the Von-Neumann Architecture that characterizes all Turing/Church digital computers may very well not be sufficient. Their limitations have to do with what I call:
- Dimensionality - Current digital computers, like a Turing machine, are basically one-dimensional plus time, and thus may lack the critical "insight" we have due to human brains being three-dimensional plus time.
- Generality - Robots designed using current digital computers may be reprogrammed from acting as a "Teacher" to a "Nurse" to a "Guard" or "Nanny" by simply switching programs. Hardware is separated from software and real meaning from symbolic representations. However competent they may be at these tasks, they really don't "understand" what they are doing. All the understanding remains in the brains of their human designers and human clients.
- Connectionality - 21st century computers, designed according to the connectivity paradigm of the unity of software and hardware, as well as multi-dimensional structures, may be what is required to match real human understanding.
Book1
In 1995, I wrote a chapter in a subsequent book by Pickover, PATTERN-BOOK - FRACTALS, ART, and NATURE. Using "Lindenmeyer systems" that, like fractals, make use of repeatedly nested self-similar structures, I designed a simple program to create a "Handmade" Patch Quilt.
When two critical variables are set to exact values of 90 and 0 degrees, the quilt looks "machine-made". However, a small change to 90.002 and 4 degrees change the appearance to "human-made", see the graphic below.
Book2
ARTIFICIAL LIFE
In the late 1990's, I became interested in Artificial Life, the idea that computer systems could be designed to reproduce themselves and perhaps evolve to some post-human level of "life".
I taught "AI and ALife" to groups of bright high school students who spent a couple months of their summer vacations at Brandeis University in Boston.
I taught "AI and ALife" to groups of bright high school students who spent a couple months of their summer vacations at Brandeis University in Boston.
The above graphic shows me with the summer 2000 class. The Hebrew characters on my shirt (×‘×¨× ×“×™×™×¡) Spell out "Brandeis". (Brandeis accepts students without regard to their religion -or lack thereof- but it is a Jewish university and has kosher dining service available.)
We had classes Monday thru Friday mornings, but afternoons and weekends were devoted to recreation activities and field trips. In the upper left, I am shown on a New Hampshire beach with four of the RAs who supervised the recreation activities.
After Vi and I moved from New York to The Villages, Florida, I taught a class in "AI and ALife" for four semesters at The Villages Lifelong Learning College.
PART 1 - MY MORAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY TAKE SHAPE IN MY COLLEGE DAYS
PART 2 - MY CAREER, MARRIAGE, FLYING, AND OUR "GREEN ACRES" DAYS.
PART 3 - TOASTMASTERS AND MY EARLY CAREER AT IBM
We had classes Monday thru Friday mornings, but afternoons and weekends were devoted to recreation activities and field trips. In the upper left, I am shown on a New Hampshire beach with four of the RAs who supervised the recreation activities.
After Vi and I moved from New York to The Villages, Florida, I taught a class in "AI and ALife" for four semesters at The Villages Lifelong Learning College.
Lesson #10: NATURAL STUPUDITY
BEATS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.
UNTIL HUMANS CREATE REAL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, USE YOUR NATURAL INTELLIGENCE,
AND,
IF YOU DON'T HAVE ONE,
GET A REAL LIFE !
Ira Glickstein
LINKS TO ALL PARTS OF "TO SEE OURSELVES AS OTHERS SEE US"
PART 1 - MY MORAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY TAKE SHAPE IN MY COLLEGE DAYS
PART 2 - MY CAREER, MARRIAGE, FLYING, AND OUR "GREEN ACRES" DAYS.
PART 3 - TOASTMASTERS AND MY EARLY CAREER AT IBM
PART 6 - ACTIVE RETIREMENT IN THE VILLAGES, FLORIDA
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