Gennady Stolyarov I and Gennady Stolyarov II Discuss the Progress of Information Technology (2019)
On January 5, 2019, I spoke with my grandfather, Gennady Stolyarov I (1933-2025), who was one of the pioneering developers of computers in the Soviet Union, regarding his thoughts about how technology and the manner in which we interact with information have evolved during his lifetime and his anticipations about the future. At the time, when he was already 85 years old, he anticipated technology that would directly read human thoughts, advances in artificial intelligence, and even AI personal assistants, as well as using AIs to compose music and develop new inventions.
The discussion was originally conducted in Russian and translated into English by me.
~ Gennady Stolyarov II, January 27, 2025
Conversation of January 5, 2019
Gennady Stolyarov II (GSII): What is the primary difference between how people relate to information now as compared to the mid-20th century?
Gennady Stolyarov I (GSI): On the Internet today there is a far greater volume of content; it is incomparable with what one would have been able to find in books alone.
GSII: So this gives rise to an interesting question: how to increase the capacity of the human brain to absorb all of this information – since there is so much more information, but our brains remain the same?
GSI: I think that it will become possible to simply read thoughts directly and also to direct ideas into the mind. It is clear that the speed of work of which a computer is capable is incomparable to that of your mind. Therefore, systems will be developed so that, instead of spending so much time pressing buttons, one could analyze the electrical signals of the brain and search accordingly, forming an impression of what one wants to find. The mind already somehow formulates the goal of the search; it should be possible to improve the interface between the mind and the computer so that the computer perceives that goal clearly.
GSII: Even today, it is already the case that the information that one wishes to discover exists. For instance, on my mobile phone, it is possible to locate information on almost anything, but that information is not yet immediately accessible, in the sense that one must type something in, search for something – this is not always convenient.
GSI: Yes, exactly.
GSII: And furthermore, the human mind does not directly absorb the information; one must still read it and be capable of understanding the external content in some manner.
GSI: Yes.
GSII: I think that this is a barrier today, because there is a tremendous amount of information, including on science, current world events, history. It is possible to gather many facts, but the human brain is still as primitive as it has previously been.
GSI: Well, it is very difficult to call the brain “primitive”! After all, we still do not understand how it operates! But it would be possible relatively soon to develop this interface that I described for reading your mind in some manner regarding what you would like to search for. Even now there are attempts to access a person’s data – sometimes regrettably, as this may not coincide with a person’s wishes. However, the information that you access or generate can be restructured, regrouped. This could be a useful underprinning for later reorganizing information in accordance with your wishes and conceptions, into a form that is comfortable for you.
GSII: At present, there exist data about a person on various social networks. There is also information from businesses, from commercial transactions – and there is the question of who owns that information. My view is that individuals themselves should own their data and have the right to determine what happens to them – i.e., if anyone else uses that information, it should be with permission to use it for specified purposes.
GSI: It is necessary to develop an artificial intellect that would be capable of reasoning; right now, you are able to search by keywords – but this process should be simplified further, because it has become tedious to press keys on a keyboard; it consumes far too much time. But I think these improvements will arrive quickly enough. The artificial intellect will be able to sort data in accordance with your wishes and group the information it finds into useful categories. It will remember past queries that were made and related information. You might be making an inquiry about something, and you would see a semantic web of terms – showing you what else exists and suggest what you could search for next. For instance, there could be sidebars dedicated to this, and you would pose a query, and you would be asked if you would like a historical view of the matter – what existed previously, what exists now, what are the outlooks for the future; the system will find all this for you. Every step in this direction will substantially increase a person’s intellectual capabilities. This will be a highly interesting field to pursue, and in my view highly effective.
GSII: There are already algorithms which, if you are watching a video, will show you some related videos. Or you could be purchasing something on Amazon or browsing products there; you would be shown similar products.
In 2014 Google conducted its experiment with Google Glass – glasses with a computer display that showed various information – for instance, data about a place that a person was visiting – but this was a closed experiment for a small group of people that still paid over a thousand dollars to participate. Google did not sell Google Glass to the general public who were not signed up for the trial program, and when Google began its experiment, I think the people who did not have Google Glass were envious of those who did. Those who wore the glasses in public places experienced discrimination and complaints, and ultimately Google ended the trial. I think if Google had initially sold Google Glass products to everyone, then it would have been treated no differently from many other new technologies – for instance, mobile phones. Generally, people are not protesting against mobile phones.
GSI: This is true.
GSII: Was earlier technology – for instance, the large computers from the 1960s – more difficult to use compared to today?
GSI: No, the interface with the computer was far more primitive and quite simple to use. This is one of the reasons I think you are much better prepared than I am to interact with new technologies and devices. The interface will continue to be improved; it will present results informatively, work out associations, group and systematize data. This data processing is all work that you could do yourself, but the system will add value in that it could store far larger amounts of data and, based on the extent of progress in artificial intelligence, help you extract from the surrounding informational universe those parts in which you are interested. It would determine your profile; already the beginnings of this are occurring, as you are receiving automatically generated suggestions. And indeed the more sophisticated systems are already under development; improvements occur with every new operating system, and I often see various updates installing on my computer. I am actually a bit frustrated by this, because after the update is installed, one often has to learn to use the interface once again. I do not like that changes are constantly being introduced, and one needs to somehow adjust to them, and one completely lacks the eagerness to spend time on that.
GSII: Yes, but that will also happen with newer versions of operating systems that will replace existing ones entirely, such as Windows 10 replacing Windows 7 and Microsoft discontinuing support for Windows 7 in 2020.
GSI: This is a well-known contradiction [in regard to updates making a system more difficult to use because of the learning curve].
GSII: Now companies are frequently changing and updating their software, and I think it is easier when they update something that the user does not immediately see and use – such as a system file.
GSI: It is important for the user to have freedom from the involuntary introduction of changes to his systems. If he would like to use the new capabilities, there should be open access to them, but old functionalities should not be impacted.
GSII: Yes. What I dislike most about these updates is that the user interface is changed and previous options are sometimes removed. Perhaps it may be possible for technologies in the future to help humans better and more rapidly adapt to such changes.
More generally, if through some method, using electrical signals, it were possible to download information into a human brain – so that humans would gain the capability to process information from the Internet much more rapidly – in your mind would this improve the quality of human decisions and behaviors? Would humans at last become enlightened?
GSI: This can happen, but it will be necessary to study and comprehend the brain in greater depth. This is extremely important. Actually, in the future your conversational partner will need to be an artificial intellect. You will be interested in some specific kinds of artificial intelligence, in the sphere of your interests and endeavors. Possible applications are quite varied. For some people, the artificial intelligence could aid in composing music. For others, it could help them track down criminals. For others still, it could help them create new inventions. The artificial intellects will be able to connect, analyze information, prepare data for use, systematize materials that you have gathered, This will be a personalized approach; the computer will, as this field progresses, become increasingly specialized toward fulfilling your needs.
GSII: So in essence these will be personal assistants in the form of artificial intelligences.
GSI: Yes.
GSII: What will happen to the interactions between people? What will happen if every person has an artificially intelligent assistant with access to facts and the ability to analyze them?
GSI: Then the artificial intelligences will establish their own network with the AI assistants of your colleagues. They will process information jointly and also present the results of your reasoning to others.
GSII: It is an interesting idea, that if people have these assistants, the assistants will communicate with one another as well – not just with people directly. This is similar to what secretaries of people in leadership positions might have done in the past, before the actual leaders would communicate with one another.
GSI: Also relevant to the topic of the conversation is a television documentary I saw recently, which showed that there already exist programs to create a simulated environment for a patient – for instance, in response to an injury to the nervous system, it is possible to create some kind of illusory world in which the patient could act and develop some sorts of skills. They also showed some interesting images [of the simulated environments] – so all this is also from that sphere of activity.
GSII: Yes, virtual reality is used for medical applications currently.
GSI: Yes, but the most important thing is that the technology that they are applying also follows the general idea that we discussed. The psychologists and neurologists working on this technology are developing an artificial reality. This is from the same repertoire of approaches.
GSII: Yes, today it is possible for several hundred dollars to purchase glasses to visit virtual spaces. There are games, educational applications, various virtual worlds. Of course, they will need to be developed further and made more accessible to the majority of people. The technology is still not ideal, but something can already be accomplished.
