plw (05/15/82)
As one who sits for hours reading items posted by others who sit for hours reading items by others.....,etc., I have a few questions for anyone with a socio-psychology interest. 1) Wouldn't those who withdraw from society into computers withdraw anyway if computers weren't available? That is, aren't these the the people who have difficulty coping with the high-pressure, high- tech society we live in? 2) Isn't a marriage that breaks up because of computers in trouble already with computers being the excuse for dissolution? 3) Doesn't an enlarged gene pool mean that there would be an increase in (now) non-normal characteristics because of the increased number of possible permutations and/or combinations of available genes? 4) Isn't it possible that some people find the person-machine interface easier to deal with because the 'rules' are better defined and more limited than those applying to the person-person interface? I personally am not surprised that some people become 'addicted' to computers and computing. In any field of human interest there are those who make that field their life as opposed to their life's work. Young people (i.e. children) have always showed an abiding and seemingly unlimited interest in games and things which are fun. The same things that are now being said about video games and computers have been said before about carnivals, cars, sports, rodeos, you name it. There have always been temptations to lure youngsters (and some adults) away from the things that require person to person contact and/or a sense of responsibility. Computers tend to worry the general public more because, as some philosopher once said, man's tools are extensions of himself. Computers come closest to extending the mind and the mind of man is an unknown. Pete Wilson ...we13!plw