JZEM@MARISTB.BITNET (William J. Joel) (03/17/88)
Recent discussions on the Digest have focused on whether the stock market dip last year was caused by computers or by man. Can we really paint the picture that black or white? It would seem to me that, as in most other areas, the actual causes are mixed and are so entwined that to separate them is both difficult and foolish. I suggest that it's better to say that, yes, the fact that computers were employed was a cause, and that the specific use of computers, thus pointing to specific persons, was also a cause. This topic emerged as part of a discussion in my Computers and Society class. The point I raised above is one I raised in class. My students differed in their opinions as to the degree of implication for each cause, but all agreed that the 'crash' was initiated by a mixture of circumstances, if that's the right word. A corollary topic I would like to see discussed here is how the crash has affected the general public's attitudes toward computer use by investors. To me, it seems, things have been 'awfully quiet'. Bill