The Lincoln Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 4

iuttitae Jmtmal an 0tar Computers Shaping Different Society; hands Stattnto 7 Publiihed by the JOUHNAL-STAR PRINTING CO, 920 St, Lincoln, Neb, 68S01 Subscription Frice 00 Paga 2A SvJNDAY JOURNAL AND STAR EDITORIAL OPINION wrrfesE yw'mucm Me, ae 15000 TUArk Arjf ftss pom! The School Finance Myth One measure of computers' impact on life is the extent to which they are satirized. The comic strip Dooncsbury took a humorous and sometimes apprehensive look at computers all last week. So there really is no reason to believe that costs, and the accomjpanying taxes, will go on climbing as they have In the past Lincoln's prospects tend to bear this out. The School District budget for the coming year does show an increase from $26.9 million this year up to $28.7 million, counting all revenue sources. That's about 7.

But the Lincoln school system still is growing in numbers, an estimated 340 student growth next year. So the increase in costs per pupil figures only about 6, substantially less than the 8 limit that originally was written into the state school aid bill and later removed. This kind of increase can reasonably be expected in an inflationary economy. No one realistically can expect school costs go down or even remain static in coming years. The disparity in teachers' salaries has not been overcome completely and increases somewhat larger than mat of the general work force will be in order.

But the idea that school costs will go on rising as they have in the past and that local school boards are powerless to do anything about it simply is not justified. Neither, accordingly, is the notion that costs would soar out of sight if the state were to pick up a greater share of the school cost In order to relieve local property tax burdens. to the human mind and, therefore, its threat to the primacy of man. Marvin Minsky, working on "artificial intelligence" machines at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said he believes the computer to be the best analog of the human brain that has yet been developed. Philip Morrison, physics professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, forecast that in the foreseeable future, man would have to recognize three new forms of life in addition to human, plant and animal life already on earth.

He said these would be life forms created in the test tube by biologists using off-the-shelf chemicals, living organisms on other planets simple forms on Mars or intelligent forms in more distant places whose radio signals we receive arid a form of machine life, the outgrowth of today's computer science. Morrison predicted that although the machines would have many of the qualities attributed to existing life forms they would not be the equal of man. "We ought to see an artificial, synthetic device, possibly not designed from the beginning by any human programmer but only begun at some (lower) hierarchical level by such a programmer and evolving subsequent (more sophisticated) hierarchies by its own internal directions, which, when complete, would behave in a way simulating the behavior which we're used to. I think this is all likely to happen in the foreseeable future." There is a feeling abroad in this state, shared by some in positions of high responsibility, that public school costs have skyrocketed in recent years and will continue to go up at a virtually unchecked rate in the future. Such a feeling is understandable.

School costs have risen sharply In the past few years. But this does not mean it is inevitable that such a course will continue Into the future. The very reason for past increases, in fact, argue against their con-' tinuation. School costs zoomed upward several years ago simply because there were more kids to be educated; also there emerged a new willingness in most communities to upgrade the quality of education. As much as anything, though, was the move to bring teachers' salaries out of the poverty class and closer to persons of similar responsibility and educational requirements.

Thanks to a diminished birth rate, the growth in student numbers has slowed perceptibly. A good part of the quality gap has beeri closed. The big leap forward has been made in teachers' salaries. School boards and administrators today can pick from a bumper crop of teachers, thus lessening the pressure for higher pay. The Workfare Institution of the new "workfare" concept cannot be expected to get great numbers of men and women off welfare and into paying jobs in the very near future.

There is much to do first. Many of the welfare recipients are incapable of holding available jobs in private employment. Special job training programs will have to be set up to bridge this gap. In some instances, jobs with limited demands will have to be created by governmental entities. Child care centers will be required by many mothers.

But adoption of the workfare philosophy is vastly more hopeful than the mere expectation that some welfare collectors will go to work. In reality, it heralds the day when society will take a greater interest in its less talented members than simply doling out a sustenance. If there is virtue and satisfaction in work, then it is in the self-interest of the able-bodied welfare receivers to have meaningful employ to By BOYCE RENSBERGER New York In the 25 years since the late John von Neumann designed the first fully modern electronic computer, tens of thousands of the controversial machines have reached into nearly every realm of human endeavor to alter dramatically the shape of today's society. Yet however commonplace, Indispensable and obedient the computer has become, the' accommodation between man and this most manlike of machines remains uneasy. This was strikingly evident at a recent three-day symposium at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., where 50 leading scientists and scholars gathered to honor Von Neumann.

The subject was the impact of the computer In the last quarter century not on commerce, where the machine is well known to every credit card holder and telephone customer but on selected fields of science and learning where its impact has been far more profound. By the meeting's end there was a deepened impression that, for all the problems solved and data processed, the less tangible conse-quences of the computer might have been the most Important Thus, it is not so much the answers the computer has given us that are remarkable as it is that, with so many earlier problems behind us, we are now able to ask questions of unprecedented boldness. The computing machine has propelled science through so many once insurmountable problems in such a short time that "hard" scientists are now routinely expecting answers to the most fundamental questions about the nature of the universe and the meaning of life. Dr. Sydney Brenner, biologist at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England, for example, said biologists are using the knowledge of how computers work as a guide in their search for possible parallels in the way living organisms work.

"The real importance of the computer in psychology today," said Dr. George A. Miller, psychology professor at Rockefeller University, "is that it has created a new and pervasive state of mind. Psychologists have come to take for granted in recent years that men and computers are merely two different species of a more abstract genus called 'information processing Not Really Brains Anthony G. Oettinger, professor of linguistics and applied mathematics at Harvard University, however, held that merely because computers simulate certain kinds of mental activity, it does not mean that computers are brains or work the same way.

Michael Atiyah, mathematics professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, said his field was getting so complicated that working out formal proofs of new theorems was being turned over to computers while the mathematicians stuck to the more Intellectually satisfying job of theoretical discussion. "It may be," Atiyah said, "that the computer is the only one who really understands the kind of mathematics being done today." To many at the conference, the remark had a serious point, particularly for mathematicians. There was a sizeable contingent present. They devoted considerable discussion to whether a computer that can handle the mathematics of complex physical phenomena that are beyond the comprehension of the human mind actually "understand" the phenomenon. Indeed, it seemed that the very possibility of understanding all of nature which is, after all, the loftiest goal of all science was in question because, through the computer, many disciplines have discovered hitherto unknown strange phenomena.

The 19th century hope that just a little more investigation would reveal the ultimate truths about the workings of the natural world is now virtually gone. Like the long mathematical proofs, many new phenomena can be studied only by using very difficult mathematics that only a computer can handle efficiently and many appear to require mathematical manipulations beyond today's computers. Mathematical Genius Never far from the sessions was the memory of Von Neumann himself a warm, outgoing mathematical genius who, though he remains little known to the public, already stands as one of the giants of 20th century scientific thought. Von Neumann did not invent the computer. No one person can be said to have done that.

Von Neumann's contribution was a major improvement on the design of the electronic computer that converted it from a special purpose machine to a flexible, all-purpose device. Von Neumann designed a machine in which the program could be written in numbers and stored in the memory exactly as if they were numbers to be manipulated in the computation. More than any other tool in the history of science, the computer has found applications in almost every field of research. Despite the computer's shortcomings, said Keith V. Roberts, the British physicist, the computer has established itself as an important new way to approach a scientific problem.

With the computer, Roberts noted, there is now the computational method. Phenomena that cannot be observed directly may be studied in the computer if enough is known to write certain mathematical descriptions of the phenomena. Despite the computer's great speed, however, there are certain natural phenomena so complex it now seems virtually impossible to simulate them in the computer. Far more common than using computers to simulate natural phenomena is the use of the machines simply to collect and process large masses of data generated by conventional experiments. For all its concrete applications, however, the computer still carries a more abstract burden its similarity in certain respects Morrison emphasized, however, it would be its own cluss of life and not of a kind with existing life.

If wires and magnets and transistors can be made to function in ways analogous to the function of nerve fibers and protoplasm, are they not just as much alive? Would such a machine, living or not, be the product of some new diabolical force in men? No, Morrison contended, it would be the logical culmination of an ancient tradition among men to simulate life through machines. (c) 1972 New York Time Nebraska's Fourth Es WORLD OF IIUMOR By Art Buchwald1 A Convention Scenario It is the fourth day of the convention and the Democrats have been unable to decide on a presidential candidate. The fight to seat delegations has taken up three days and those who were ruled ineligible have refused to give up their seats. Almost every state delegation has two people sitting in every chair. No one dares leave the floor for fear someone will grab his seat.

The nomination speeches have not been heard, but the candidates have been nominated McGovern, Humphrey, Wallace, Chisholm, Jackson and Muskie. On the first ballot McGovern picked up 1,234 votes, well shy of the 1,509 he needed. The second and third ballot found no one budging. By the tenth ballot of Wednesday's all-night session, the convention was hopelessly deadlocked. On NBC, John Chancellor and David Brinkley became short-tempered and refuseu to talk to each other.

Howard K. Smith and Harry Reasoner on ABC were also not speaking to each other, and on CBS, Walter Cronkite wasn't talking to himself. It was obvious to everyone in and out of the convention hall that a compromise candidate had to be found. But who? The Democratic Party leaders WILLIAM Philosophy ment made available and to prepare them for it. Beyond mat, this approach seems to anticipate other forms of assistance to the needy aside from a welfare check.

One possibility, long discussed, is help in family planning and specifically In making contraceptive devices available. Another might be the extension of basic homemaking instruction to women with families on welfare. This could help them in the wise expenditure of their limited funds, teach them how to shop and how to get the most in nutritional value and clothing from the small incomes provided them. "Alms for the poor" never can be more than an existence for society's misfits and a salve to the conscience of the more affluent. Providing the poor something more enduring than money even if it starts with a job is a vastly more rewarding approach for all involved.

call a recess. They argue and thrash it out for several hours. The only man whose name is proposed as the compromise candidate is a very famous but controversial figure. He has announced many times he is not a candidate for the Presidency or the Vice Presidency and under no conditions would accept a draft. Yet, leaders argue he is the one person who can save the party.

This young man, whose name had been associated with a very embarrassing incident, is a household word now. Because of the deadlock at the convention, he is the only one who can possibly beat Nixon. O'Brien puts in a call to him. Everyone gets on the phone and tells him he has to be the candidate. The compromise candidate speaks to George McGovern, Humphrey, Muskie and Wallace.

They urge him to run. The can-diate finally agrees and says he will take the next plane to Miami. And that's how Bobby Fischer, U.S. chess champion, became the Democratic presidential nominee for 1972. Copyright Los Angeles Times 0.

DOBLER accountability they now have for the property taxes they spend. Thus, one key to any successful state aid to education program will be the spending control mechanism. It is not an easy thing to determine but until it is done, any state aid program will have a lot of opposition. The other key is public understanding. It was amazing to hear testimony before Warner's committee to the effect that large numbers of people apparently do not even know that the state of Nebraska is no longer using the property tax.

Far too many citizens look upon the sales and income taxes as just additional taxes, not a replacement. The property tax has gone up but it has not risen as fast as it would have without the sales and income taxes. Care needs to be taken to explain to the public that additional state aid to education is property tax relief but not total tax relief. Overall, the state aid program will be hurt, too, by the simple fact that many people believe taxes" have become almost confiscatory. When they feel this way, the one and only change they want is less spending, not shifting or anything else.

It is rather widely believed, too, that the schools have not been the most frugal of governmental units. When it comes to taxation, the schools do not enjoy a very favorable public image and that makes aid to education a tougher nut to crack. Such state aid is probably Inevitable but it will not come easily. fission page 1 School Aid Swings On Two Hinges Taking note of University of Nebraska scholastic politics and the recent vote of a 21-member committee on appointment of a new UNO dean of the merged College of Civil Engineering, the Omaha World Herald refuted the widespread contention that the vote revealed what is assailed as UNO's "stepchild" status. The fact that all 11 UNL members voted for Dr.

George Hanna of UNL while UNO members voted for other candidates is not as significant, the World Herald said, as the recently adopted budget which was proportionately more rewarding to UNO than to UNL Moreover, the World Herald noted, appointment of UNO Chancellor Ron Roskins, whose credentials the newspaper lauded, would seem to refute the stepchild theory. "Perhaps if UNO is to be described in juvenile terms," the Omaha daily said, "it would be more accurately termed a foundling not yet recovered from its undernourished childhood (under municipal parentage) but on an improved diet. "As with many adopted children, it will have to feel envious of its older brothers from time to time," the World Herald said. Holdrege Citizen editors, commenting on Nebraska's low status on the fluoridation totem pole (Nebraska is one. of only five midwestern states where a majority of the population is not drinking water with a tooth decay fighting level of fluoride), marshalled evidence that fluoridation does help prevent tooth decay and that it has no harmful effects.

A study at Superior showed that 66. of the five- to nine-year-olds had cavities or filled or missing teeth in 195L After 10 years of fluoridation that figure dropped to 11. Moreover, 25 years of study has revealed no harmful effects, The state dental association, according to the Holdrege editors, is preparing legislation to require fluoridation and the Holdrege Citizen opinion is that there's good reason for adding fluoride to our drinking water." Tekamah area residents have been assured by the Burt County Plaindealer that "they've" done something about the lack of health facilities and personnel in their community. Nearly three months ago a Tekamah committee began discussion with Creighton University's Health Sciences Center for provision of health services in a system that would utilize the resources in the community. Under a plan being discussed, Creighton University would enter into an agreement with a newly formed Tekamah non-profit corporation, the Cottonwood Health Group, to maintain comprehensive health services.

"We are satisfied an agreement can be reached," the Plaindealer said. "Law enforcement in Omaha has developed a serious defect in the critical area of policing drunken drivers." the World Herald said. Noting that convicted drunk drivers are in effect "spotted" one offense before serious action is taken against them, the World Herald suggested, "this is an incredibly permissive way to handle the kind of driver who is involved in 50 of the fatal accidents in this country." While insurance company personnel have gone on record in favor of curtailing judges' probation leeway, the World Herald said, "We believe that judges should retain the flexibility they now have." But, editors cautioned, "the surest way to bring on such restriction is to abuse tie granting of probation the way the Omaha judges have been doing I Unsigned letters are not printed, tetters are most effective if brief and signed with writer's foil name. A pea name or initials will be used only if accompanied by he writer's name and address, bnt use of pen names is lot permitted oa letters critical of individuals. The Sunday Journal and Star reserves the right to condense letters.

ReaderslViews Two hinges, one marked "controls" and one marked "understanding," are the keys on which future state aid to education swings. This should be obvious by now to the legislative interim study committee headed by State Senator Jerome Warner of Waverly. Warner is the recognized leader in this field and has done an outstanding job of guiding the state along what is a perilous and difficult road. Warner is a strong advocate of more state funding of local schools and has had only limited success in the Legislature. The basic oplposilion to his proposals has been founded in citizen displeasure with rising taxes at all levels of government.

Fundamentally, state aid to education is a means of providing equity as between various schools and districts and of providing property tax relief. The latter comes about by shifting local property tax support of education to the state's sales and income taxes. Obviously, such a shift does not mean a lowering of taxes in total, but rather, a change in emphasis. By changing education from property to sales and income tax support, the cost of education is shifted as among taxpayers. Some taxpayers would pay more and others less for education with such a change.

Total public spending, would not be lowered and one problem is to see to it that it does not increase without restraint. State aid tends to lessen the control of voters over local spending groups and school districts might be encouraged to spend more without the local I. from a secretive and reluctant Nature by many men over a vast period of time with no help, but only hindrance, from the "masterpiece of fact and That the 1 a of nature are "designed for the benefit of man" is an anthropomorphic view of the universe that has no claim on credibility. From her most benign moods to her wildest and most destructive outbursts Nature treats all her creatures with the same even-handed impartiality, the same indifference, the same cosmic unconcern. The grand scientific generalization of the conservation of matter and energy in all their transformations and manifestations renders the intrusion of a Divine Mind incongruous and impudent.

Force and matter are eternal there was no beginning, there will be no end-G. V. OBERLENDER destruction of opposing views, as to demonstrate that here, finally and at last, is one of the eternal verities. But the reader may have been entirely decieved, for if there is one thing that has all the appearance of a masterpiece of fact it is a masterpiece of fiction. For the latter is certainly nothing less than a work of pure fantasy, structured with such skill and subtlety as to appear, even to the most sophisticated, to be a factual account.

Allen believes that the natural laws which "govern" the universe are "designed for the benefit of man." In the first place natural laws do not "govern" the universe. They are more properly to be regarded as statements which attempt to describe, as accurately as our present knowledge permits, the manner in which force and matter react upon each other in our universe. These laws were wrested No Beginning, End Lincoln I have often found myself in agreement with the views expressed by Ralph Allen on religion and the supernatural. However, I should like to call attention to several of the contradictions and confusing statements which I find in an article on Allen (Sunday Journal and Star, June 25). "The Bible is a masterpiece of fact and fiction, not an absolute Allen does not specify the area or areas of fact and fiction in which this unique quality resides.

If both fact and fiction are present, it should be no cause for wonder that one who earnestly and prayerfully searches thfi Scriptures should find himself continually perplexed and frustrated. If he is reading a masterpiece of fact, he may reasonably demand such a massive array of supporting evidence, such a convincing.