COMPUTOONS - THE EVOLVING IMAGE OF COMPUTERS IN CARTOONS

Are computers displacing people? Are they more capable than us?... mor e efficient? These questions have discomfited many people since the em ergence of ENIAC in the 1940s. Cartoonists, with their long tradition of poking fun at our foibles, soon pounced on this new phenomenon, lam pooning and satirizing our responses to ''intelligent machines.'' The ''computoon'' was born. An examination of computoons published from 19 40 to the present reveals several continuing themes: computer pretensi ons, a concern for computer accuracy, and the evolving nature of robot s. Cartoonists have used many situations to ponder the question of whe ther computers- and especially robots-are similar enough to humans tha t we should view them as competitors for what we see as our exalted po sition in the scheme of things. And machines as pretenders to the thro ne can be portrayed whimsically or with varying degrees of paranoia. O f course, computoon themes have numerous subthemes. Around 1970, these subthemes began to change, with some fading and others becoming domin ant. As more people-cartoonists included-started interacting with comp uters, the concerns in computoons became more specific, and technical jargon made its way into the mainstream. Gradually, the computer becam e part of the landscape, a common fixture in cartoons and not necessar ily essential to the joke. Although intelligent machines have now beco me indispensable partners in many facets of our lives, for many people the relationship is uneasy. As long as technology continues to run ah ead of our ability to adapt, cartoonists will find humor, absurdity, a nd pathos in our efforts to keep pace.