1. Broader Issues on the Impact and Control of Computers
Chapter 9
Broader Issues on the Impact and Control of Computers
Computers and Community
Information Haves and Have-Nots: The Access Issue
Loss of Skills and Judgment
Evaluations of the Impact Computer Technology
Prohibiting Bad Technologies

2. 9.1 Computers and Community
How do computers and telecommunication affect
human interaction and community?

3. 9.1 Computers and Community
The Problems
There is a worry that computers have a negative impact on us, our children, and our society
Hurts local community vibrancy
Causes isolation from neighbors
Erodes family life
On-line commerce affects real stores and community-based professionals
Face-to-face gathering
Emphasis on individual rather than community
May lead to underdeveloped social skills
May lead to internet addiction

4. http://www. cnn. com/US/9706/16/briefs. pm/internet. neglect/index

5. 9.1 Computers and Community
The Positives
Allows for new ways of doing old tasks
Teleworking
Automation
E-Commerce
Research
Greater range of communication
Online convenience = Real World Freedom
Greater depth in communication

6. 9.2 Information Haves and Have-Nots: The Access Issue
Is having equal opportunity to access information
a far-fetched goal?

7. 9.2 Information Have & Have-Nots
Information Access
Current State of the Digital Divide
Impact of the Digital Divide
Possible Remedies
Future of Information Access

8. 9.2 Information Have & Have-Nots
Digital Divide:
Refers to the gap between groups of people with regular, effective access to Digital and Information Technology, and those without.

9. 9.2 Information Have & Have-Nots
Factors contributing to the Digital Divide:
Status of country (LDC/MDC)
Individual wealth
Physical disabilities
Gender
Politics
Sara Baase, “A Gift of Fire”, 2003,

10. 9.2 Information Have & Have-Nots
According to Nielsen/Netratings 74.9% of American (US) households had access to the Internet in 2004 (an increase from 57% in 2001).
About half of those Americans had high-speed/broadband connections.
Internet access (by age):
82% of women between the ages of
80% of men between the ages of
77% of women between the ages of
76% of men between the ages of
75% of young adults between the ages of ,

11. The Opte Project, Internet Map 2003.

12. 9.2 Information Have & Have-Nots
Hierarchical Diffusion of the Internet
From MDC’s down to LDC’s
Global Impact
Cultural Interaction and Diffusion
Communications Act of 1934
Telephone companies are required to provide telephone service to poor people at low rates …

13. One Laptop per child (MIT Media Lab), XO-1.

14. Intel’s World Ahead Program, Classmate PC.

15. 9.2 Information Have & Have-Nots
Various efforts are being made to break the hierarchical diffusion pattern.
Libraries
Internet/Cyber Café s
Public Hotspots
Donations (public/private)
Government / Non-Profit Organizations
Open content, software movement
AMD’s 50x15 Initiative
“The 50x15 mission is to enable affordable, accessible Internet connectivity and computing capabilities for 50 percent of the world's population by the year 2015” -

16. 9.3 Loss of Skills and Judgment
What is the impact of computing on the individual?

17. 9.3 Loss of Skills and Judgment
Skills vs. Automation
Loss of Skills
Loss of Judgment
Loss of Responsibility

18. 9.3 Loss of Skills and Judgment
Writing, Thinking, and Memory
I have a spelling checker.
It came with my PC.
It plainly marks four my revue,
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.
Eye ran this poem threw it,
I’m sure your pleased too no.
It’s letter perfect in it’s weigh,
My checker tolled me sew.
-Jarrold H. Zar, “Candidate for a Pullet Surprise”
From the Journal of Irreproducible Results
Jan/Feb 1994, 39:1, p. 13

19. 9.3 Loss of Skills and Judgment
Loss of Judgment
“The problem isn't that Wikipedia itself is flawed, say supporters; it's that many Net users don't understand how it works. The system allows anyone to post or change an entry. On Monday Wikipedia changed the system so only registered users could post, but registration requires only creating a username and password. Identities are still not verified.”
-USA Today
From USA Today, “It’s Online but is it true?”
By Janet Kornblum, 12/6/2005

20. 9.3 Loss of Skills and Judgment
Loss of Responsibility
Approval of loans or insurance coverage
Assessment of educational progress
Arrest of certain individuals
How to make a particular business decision
Treatment of disease with a particular medicine
Application process for a college or job

21. 9.4 Evaluations of the Impact of Computer Technology
Is computer technology overall beneficial to us or harmful?

22. 9.4 Evaluations of the Impact of Computer Technology
Luddites
In England in , people burned factories and mills in efforts to stop the technologies and social changes that were eliminating their jobs.  Many were weavers who worked at home on small machines.  They were called Luddites.
More recently, Luddite has been used to describe people who oppose technological progress, and has been adopted as an honorable term by critics of technology.

23. 9.4 Evaluations of the Impact of Computer Technology
Criticisms
Causes massive unemployment and deskilling of jobs
We use them because they are there (not because they satisfy real needs)
Causes social inequality
Source of social disintegration; they are dehumanizing
Separates humans from nature and destroys the environment
Benefits big business and big government
Thwarts development of social skills, human values, and intellectual skills in children.
Solves no real human problems.

24. 9.4 Evaluations of the Impact of Computer Technology
Who Benefits Most?
Eliminate jobs to reduce costs of production
Capitalism survives by convincing us to buy products we do not need
Buyers are manipulated by advertising, work pressure, or other forces beyond their control
Technology has made no improvement in life
The main beneficiaries of computers is government and big business
Has little value for the ordinary workers

25. 9.4 Evaluations of the Impact of Computer Technology
Benefits of Technology
Reduce the effort needed to produce goods and services.
Food prices have dropped worldwide
Raw materials are more abundant and prices of natural resources have declined
Wages and salaries have risen in both rich and poor countries
New substitutes for natural resources have been created
New forms of crop management
Improved transportation of food from field to table
More diseases now treatable or eradicated
Improved, safety-minded products for home, school, and work

26. 9.4 Evaluations of the Impact of Computer Technology
Technology Benefits Spreading to the Poor
Cox and Alm, Myths of Rich and Poor, Pg. 15

27. 9.4 Evaluations of the Impact of Computer Technology
Terrence McKenna
Raymond Kurzweil

28. 9.4 Evaluations of the Impact of Computer Technology
Courtesy of Ray Kurzweil and Kurzweil Technologies, Inc.
Singularity Countdown

29. 9.5 Prohibiting Bad Technologies
How should computing technology be controlled to ensure positive uses and consequences?

30. 9.5 Prohibiting Bad Technologies
Technology Critics
Technology is not “neutral.”
Big Business and governments make decisions about technology.
Once created, technology drives itself.
Technology Advocates
People can choose to use a technology for good or ill
Influenced by society, technology does more than it was designed to do.
People adapt technologies that give us more choices for action and relationships.

31. 9.5 Prohibiting Bad Technologies
"Although a technology does not drive human beings to adopt new practices, it shapes the space of possibilities in which they can act."
-Peter Denning
“The Internet After 30 Years,” by Peter J. Denning
The Internet Besieged, Addison-Wesley, 1998, p. 20

32. 9.5 Prohibiting Bad Technologies
The Difficulty of Prediction
The telephone is so important, every city will need one!
-Anonymous
My personal desire would be to prohibit entirely the use of alternating currents. They are unnecessary as they are dangerous.
-Thomas Edison, 1899
I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.
-Thomas J. Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
Computers in the future may… only weigh 1.5 tons.
-Popular Mechanics, 1949
There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.
-Ken Olson, pres. of Digital Equipment Corp. 1977
The US will have 220,000 computers by the year 2000.
-RCA Corporation, 1966 (The actual number was
close to 100 million.)

33. 9.5 Prohibiting Bad Technologies
The Gift of Fire
The key to properly harnessing the power is ours.
Technologies should:
Be decentralized and noncoercive.
Produce what people want.
Work well despite difficulty of prediction.
Respect the diversity of personal opinion.
Be relatively free of political manipulation.

34. Discussion
1. Should the Internet be something that everyone can access from everywhere? Is Universal Access a right? Is it even possible?
2. What can we do to prohibit bad technology? How can we make sure that technology is used positively without hindering its progress?
3. How do we prevent our society from being overly dependent on computers and technology? Is this a bad thing?