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THE COMPUTER REVOLUTION

Computer Literacy

By the mid 1980s computer technology had transformed American life. The watches people wore, the cars they drove, the mail they received, the games they played, the state of their health, and the way they learned were altered by the computer chip. Schools, workplaces, the health industry, government, and the law were all dramatically affected by the computer. Social engineers began to ponder the question of how to prepare the citizens of the future for lives and careers that would require at least a rudimentary understanding of computing. The notion of literacy, the fundamnetal measure of capability for modern life, was expanded to include "computer literacy": a basic familiarity with computers.

Business Uses

Big business had recognized the importance of the computer from the beginning; but by the 1980s, as equipment and the programs to make it useful became affordable, even small business offices relied on computers for word processing, accounting, record keeping, and a variety of specialized uses limited only by the imagination of programmers. Computers changed the way telephone systems operated and were managed. Banking moved swiftly from personal service to computerized automatic teller machines (ATMs). Computer-driven robots reshaped manufacturing processes. Computer-assisted teleconferencing began to be recognized as an efficient alternative to expensive business travel. Even show business was affected as computerized synthesizers were developed that could emulate the sound of any musical instrument, and filmmakers used computers to design and execute special effects.

Health Care Uses

In the hospital and the doctor's office the computer had two important effects: it made diagnosis and treatment more reliable, and it helped to drive health-care costs to soaring heights. Body-imaging techniques refined in the 1980s, such as ultrasound, positron-emission technology (PET scans), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), allowed physicians views of the inside of the body that would have been unimaginable a decade earlier; the machines were extremely expensive, but once the technology was available physicians argued that prudent medical practice necessitated their frequent use. The computerized axial tomography (CAT scan) machine had been introduced in 1973; by the mid 1980s four thousand were in use in American hospitals, which paid more than __BODY__ million each for them, in addition to some thirteen hundred MRI machines costing $2.5 million apiece. Computers operated heart pacemakers, though a 1988 study showed that 20 percent of them were unnecessary and 36 percent were of questionable benefit. Computers offered medical-services personnel an efficient means of record keeping, as well as of sharing patient information and the latest research findings.

Educational Uses

School administrators were awestruck by the educational potential of the computer, but classroom teachers were slow to turn the theory of computer-assisted education to practical use. Bewteen 1980 and 1988 the number of computers in schools from kindergarten to grade twelve increased from 100,000 to more than 2 million; in 1987, 95 percent of elementary schools, 97 percent of junior high schools, and 98 percent of high schools had at least one computer, and by the end of the decade it was estimated that there was one computer for every twenty students in America. Apple led the march of computers into the schools, donating hardware in some areas and making it available at deeply discounted prices in others. As a result, the firm dominated the school market: 77 percent of elementary schools had Apples, as did 47 percent of the nation's high schools. But many of the machines simply collected dust: teachers were sometimes reluctant to alter well-established curricula to incorporate the computer, and there was rarely adequate staff to maintain the machines. The students who were interested in computers often had much better ones available at home, as anxious middle-class parents rationalized that a home computer was a necessary school-related purchase. About half of the available educational software was in the category of skills practice—what teachers referred to as "homework" or "seat work"—and, thus, it offered limited benefit to teachers struggling to manage overcrowded classrooms. Meanwhile, social revolutionists searched for ways to displace the school as the center for education. In the early 1980s Control Data Corporation energetically sought to adapt a program developed in 1959 for home educational use, but people were not yet ready for such a bold departure from traditional practice.

Scientific Uses

Scientific analysis of data was enormously simplified by computers; but scholars were quick to point out that while computers might provide information with unprecedented speed and accuracy, a well-trained scientist was still required to devise the data sets and interpret them. Even the humanities showed the effects of the computer age, as electronic storage made it possible to accumulate, organize, and search huge amounts of information; scholars could, in an afternoon, accumulate data that, in previous generations, would have taken a lifetime to amass.

Governmental Uses

Government, the judiciary, and law enforcement were similarly affected. Tellingly, some said, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Internal Revenue Service, two of the highest profile computer users in the country, struggled with outmoded equipment and awkward programs. The introduction of the computer created a new class of criminal and required regulations as hackers used computers instead of handguns to rob banks and to commit fraud. Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies used computerized storage facilities to store criminal records and profiles. Theoretically, computers had made it harder than ever for malefactors to escape punishment; but computers require users, and law enforcement agencies were as understaffed as they had always been. The copyright laws that had served the nation for a century were found to be inadequate to address the problems related to digitized intellectual property.

The Controllers

Computers had only become commonly available about five years before the beginning of the 1980s, but by the end of the decade it was difficult to imagine a present or a future that did not depend on computer technology. The social revolution imagined in the early 1970s by the young rebels in such groups as the Homebrew Computer Club in San Francisco was in full swing by the mid 1980s, and it proved to be as thorough a reformation as America had ever experienced. Businesses, schools, and home users—mainstream Americans—realized that they needed computers, but they lacked the imagination, the specialized skill, and the creative resources to provide for their needs. For the fulfillment of their digital dreams, they were forced to look to an unusual source: youth. As business and scholarly interests took over the development of the mainframe computer, the personal computer, which grew more powerful by the month, was the domain of the young "chipheads," and few Americans escaped their influence.