The Computer That Predicted the Future

I wonder how many of those predictions became self-fulfilling prophecies? The article says some 70% of the pupils ended up in careers suggested by the computer, but without its input where would their futures have gone instead?

As stated above by EnviroMan a case of mostly self-fulfilling prophecies.

If the results had been sealed, never to be seen by a living soul, and then the comparisons done, I perhaps would say: Maybe the predictions were accurate.

Kind Regards....

The questions on the questionnaire are the determining factor. If I take a test, or answer a questionnaire I consider my answers and am influenced by the response of the reader, which in this case was a programmed computer. I may disagree, or agree with the response. When I took tests as a youth it was recommended I become a scientist, but I was influenced by my father who wanted me to be an artist and poet. I actually think I might have made more money if I had paid attention to the recommendations of the tests. Of course money isn't everything and on many issues I have experience enough to call for respect when I tell a story. A computer is really not that much more powerful than a rock, or a piece of paper. Fate is something that happens to us, and destiny is something we accept and work on willingly is my point. As an experiment I suggest a Slide Rule rated equivalent correlated to the computer responses allowing for the bland unknowing relationship between humans and machines, which are not actually anymore intelligent than we are.

I personally doubt the computer can be much worse than some of the so-called "HR experts" I've come across, who recommended that I make a career switch to selling insurance when I have zero EQ, or towards building and construction, when I have actually worked there and quit because I found it boring and unfulfilling.

Yup. The questionnaire is the key, not the computer grading it. The results would probably not have been any different had a human being sat down and graded the test, matching the responses with "optimal" career choices. All the computer did was make the grading quicker and more consistent, plus provide a database to analyze.