AP01@IBM.LIVERPOOL.AC.UK (Stephen Clark) (10/08/88)
I agree that those of us with access to computers and to the international e- mail network should be conscious that we are a privileged class. I even agree that the use of computers may structure our thought and our social relations in ways that we wouldn't entirely like if we thought about them in the abstract. But I doubt very much that there is an international capitalist conspiracy to that or any other effect. I should also like to know what evidence there is that 'the Catholic Church tried to suppress the printing press'. That's the sort of thing that people with a conscience try to do - i.e. people who write self-congratulatory pieces on their perspicacity in seeing through the wicked conspiracies of our 'bosses'.... Nobody controls everything that happens, and nobody need control a computer- literate society. Hurray for diversity and multiple bulletin boards. And yes, I would much rather this list was restricted to comments on ethics in computing: that's a new and interesting area. Drugs and the duty to obey the law have been better discussed by Plato and J.S.Mill. Best wishes Stephen Clark