Good dreams, bad dreams

In what way are computers 'dream machines'? Dreams can express our aspirations, our hopes and longings. Dreams are also things that we never fully control. Computers belong to dream worlds in at least these two ways: they help us realize possibilities (fulfil our dreams), and they (like most technology) appear to develop a power all of their own, to become dreams we 'inhabit'.

We want to begin by affirming our excitement about the opportunities that computers can offer. Computers multiply human effort to a sometimes extraordinary degree. At their best, for example:

• Their effective use creates wealth. Computers now represent a major element of investment expenditure in many types of business. Their use helps us to increase both the quantity and quality of output, reduces repetitive tasks undertaken by employees and enhances access to information. Higher output can be achieved in this way. The overall effect is likely to be in enhanced economic growth with all the benefits that produces. However, not all members in society benefit equally in the first instance, since for some, job opportunities may be lost leading to the need for retraining and relocation. But a dynamic business environment will always give rise to such situations, which must be dealt with through social and employment policies.
• They empower people and give them new levels of education. Computers provide many excellent encyclopedias and electronic books. Unlike books, some of these are interactive and allow the reader to understand more about, say, environmental issues. Computers with networks give direct access to people and to knowledge, for example to library catalogues or museums, from around the world. You want to know how to help some cause or run a pressure group or a support group? It's all there, and you can participate and contribute. Access to information is subversive of totalitarian establishments of all kinds. There is a proud tradition of public libraries that the Internet is, in a more anarchic way, continuing.
• They automate routine tasks. They allow us to edit drafts of a document (such as this one) without continually retyping it; they remove the labour of searching thick files for elusive records; they turn tables of figures into charts and graphs; they digest huge quantities of scientific data into a manageable pile of information; they do not get tired of monitoring safety conditions on a railway.
• They support a flexible response to individual needs. It can be a wonderful thing to talk to a customer support person who has immediate access to one's records.
• They empower individuals. Through the Internet, an individual has access to a truly vast library of information.
• They support new forms of work and communication. Traditional 9-to-5 work patterns suit many, but not all. IT enables people to work from home, and to collaborate with others who are far away, and possibly even in different time zones.
• They are fun! Computer-programming is fun. Computer games are fun. Virtual reality is fun. We do not mean to trivialize matters here. Human beings are built with a huge, God-given capacity for enjoyment, and it seems clear that computers offer a rich new environment for that enjoyment.

Each item in this list needs a caveat: some dreams are nightmares. Wealth is not something to be sought for its own sake. No word processor can turn drivel into pearls of wisdom. An insurance agent whose computer goes down may be utterly helpless. The Internet has much junk as well as much joy. Telecommuting is lonely. Computer games can be addictive. And so on.

Indeed, some of the 'good' things in the list above are 'good' largely because of other changes which have made them seem necessary, have made them good. Once upon a time, the insurance agent would have known all the customers on the firm's books, and dealt with them personally. Moving to systems with less personal contact, where the relationship is directly with a firm rather than the person, may be cheaper, and that is a benefit, but it is not a benefit without a cost.

All technologies have at once extended and limited people. Books, for example, encourage sharing ideas, and they also provide a substitute for human memory. Who needs to memorize a song if it is in the songbook? Books have helped to change our culture from one where older people were esteemed for their knowledge of tradition and folk memory to one where these skills are no longer so valued. It is probably too early to say what cyberspace will displace, and indeed whether we might regret its passing. It's not clear, either, whether the loss of memory skills is such a bad cost to pay for the vast benefits of books. However, stories from books - verses from the Bible - can fill the minds of people when they can no longer read, and give them sustenance in a society that may give them little else, and we have lost that.

In short, one of the most daunting things about computers is that they are so terribly good and so terribly bad at the same time. Neutral they are not.