Artificial intelligence

AI as it's called, is becoming increasingly popular (or unpopular, depending on your view). In 1951, author Arthur C. Clarke published a series of science fiction short stories, including the one he collaborated on 17 years later with movie writer/producer/director Stanley Kubrick, birthing the historic film, "2001: A Space Odyssey." Among other things, Odyssey explored the result of humans interacting with a computer that begins to think like them, and (HAL 9000) takes on a mind of his/its own. When Wozniak and Jobs created Apple, the goal was to get computers to think like man, so they could readily understand each other. That's why the trash icon looks like a garbage receptacle -- "Getting rid of garbage? Throw it in the can."