The
microchip revolution is based on size and cost. Microchips give us cheap
computing power in a tiny space. As the cost of microchips continues to fall,
it becomes economically worthwhile to use them in more and more ways. We have
to accept the microchip, or face the alternative of opting out of the free
world market. Accepting the microchip brings benefits and problems. The
benefits include greater efficiency in finding and using information, greater
control over pollution and the use of the natural resource, help for the sick
and the disable and a whole range of “smart” machines to inform, entertain and
serve us.
We can
guard against some of the problems. We can, for example, be alive to the danger
of the misuse of information held on computer files.
There is
the problem of alienation: people who cannot find a place in the technological
world of the future. To guard against this problem, we need education and
training schemes, and machines which are easy to use.
Finally,
skills are made redundant by machines. Again, there’s a need for education and
retraining. The wealth needed to pay for schemes like these is more likely to
appear if we use the microchip.
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