April
16, 1993
People think computers are safe. I had an
argument with Jimmy the other day over the power data bases and computers.
Librarian power. He growled off a rhetorical statement that sounded like
Richard Nixon circa 1972, about how he wouldn't give a book to someone who'd
failed to return books in another town. A little Big Brother. But even here in
our little world, we could be monitored. Our thoughts read. If only the masters
of this little world knew enough about the kind of power they possess. I put
passwords on some things. But others here don't. And there's no real protection
against intrusion. Codes can be broken. People can be embarrassed or insulted
or hurt by revealing too much of themselves, thinking they are relating in a
private world.
Jimmy and I argued over the price of things.
He believes this new revolution will open up our ability to create, putting
into the hands of individuals like me the power of information. I think there
is a price to be paid, a slow grinding away of humanity. We become attached to
our keyboards. We become our keyboards. We breathe and exhale data like
machines.
Even this can be deciphered over time.
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