The Amateur

Computerist

Summer 1992 Volume 4 No. 4

“The long memory is the most radical idea in America.” Clara Sparks;

From album “Don’t Mourn-Organize: Songs of Labor” songwriter Joe Hill.

The Impact of the Computer

on Society: Two Views

Current Problems

I just finished reading the Amateur Computerist (vol. 4 no. 2-3) and

the wane due to the Internationalization of Industry and their ability to

move plants and to transfer jobs any place in the world. The experiences

of Greyhound and Caterpillar reflects the realities of our current

situation. The introduction of the computer has encouraged companies

to eliminate mid management and has helped industries to cut cost of

operation. How has this benefitted either labor or the consumer? It

appears that all mid managers are being effected either through loss of

jobs, insecurity and eventually those left working will probably get

lower pay. I would guess that it will also effect the pay of all labor.

I would suggest that your newsletter might be more meaningful if

drop further. Our current standard of living based upon historical

theoretically a better system but from a practical standpoint it hasn’t

worked. It failed because no realistic analysis was made of human greed

and no allowances were made to take care of this problem.

It is my feeling that if you really want a newsletter that is different,

encourage the in depth exploration of the effects of the Computer

Revolution on man. We can already see some of its effects on man but

many more are to come. An analysis of anticipated effects are certainly

in order, and what is more important is that we speculate on how we

could effectively have people apply pressure so that the computer is used

beneficially. I don’t know of any organized group who are actively

checks. This is only the tip of the iceberg and is relatively unimportant

when compared to some of the other things that our representatives have

been doing. Traveling around the World at Taxpayers expense, the

Saving Bank scandals, the unfair tax bills, etc. Almost nobody gets

excited about these. I suspect that Bush may even be reelected, in spite

of the miserable state of our economy.

I know that there are people interested in doing something about

improving our current situation, but these are in the minority. What we

lack along with more interested people is a clear analysis of our

problems and leadership to direct solutions.

The Future

If I should discuss “the future,” I would take, not a 10-20 year

perspective, but a 200 year perspective. I would ask myself: What is the

real LONG RANGE trend in the economy, and what sort of real LONG

RANGE target is made possible by that? Having decided on a 200 year

perspective, I would use that projection as a premise for the course I

would want society to follow in the more near future (0-10 years).

because of environmental constraints. I agree with their mental alarm

about the constraints, but I think that automation, robots, and so on will

make us a better society for all, at the same time REDUCING the strain

on the environment.

Now comes the next point, which is not trivial at all: What sort of

society should we strive for in the light of the enormous technological

potential that a

lot of us agree on?

Here is my scenario: A society where a small percentage of the

population oversee automatic processes in administration, manufacturing

TIME FOR WHAT THEY REALLY WOULD LIKE TO DO. The

remaining 95% of the workforce in my future society would have the

following jobs:

- Kindergarten teachers and nurses, 2 adults per 5 children

- Teachers, in classes with less than 10 children in each class

- Sailplane instructors, scuba-diving instructors, football trainers,

Page 5

sorry to hear about Mr. Floyd Hoke-Miller. I personally did not know

interview him. If there weren’t people like him all the workers might be

in slave camps today.

Before I forget this I should have mentioned this comment in my

last message. In reading how the Amateur Computerist was founded and

all of you ( the initiators ) should pat your self on the back. It can be

very tough to get something like this off the ground, let alone sustain it

for four years. And I was not surprised that Ford played games with the

educational future of the workers. I’m not familiar with them but

hopefully they have taken a different approach these days.

More Puzzled

computers would only be used against the populace. A cooperative,

critical milieu had to be created to oppose the secrecy and exclusivity of

IBM and the rest of the computer establishment. Money wasn’t the

objective of these technological revolutionaries. Their objective was to

contribute to the society they were part of. One Homebrew member’s

motto expressed the goal: “Let’s stand on each other’s shoulders, not on

each others toes.” (Paul Freiberger and Michael Swain, Fire in the

Valley, Berkeley, 1984, p. 178)

The Homebrew Club first met in Gordon French’s garage in Palo

Alto. But soon the meetings grew too large and the club moved to the

working in unchartered territory.

The Homebrew club provided a place where a movement of people

could gather and find the help they needed to solve the problems posed

by this new technology. Also, Homebrewers shared their critiques of

new products being offered to warn each other of false claims or bugs

they encountered. Homebrew Club meetings were also a place where the

participants could share their reports of good products. The culture

developed by the Homebrewers supported the principle of open and free

exchange of ideas and information so achievements could be built on

and development could proceed in a cooperative rather than proprietary

Dartmouth Time Sharing System in the 1960's. BASIC was a language

And along with the development of open architecture and operating

system and a language, another component was needed in the technolog-

ical guerrilla war. Critiques that honestly evaluated the products being

offered were crucial in the effort to develop useful and functioning

items. Freiberger and Swaine report of how this critical attitude was

nourished. In the Spring of 1975, Lee Felsenstein wrote articles on the

Altair for the Bay Area computer magazine PC. Relying on information

he received from telephone conversation with Ed Roberts, he wrote

about the Altair. Readers of the magazine, however, who bought Altairs

found bugs when trying to use the computer. Their letters complaining

Loyal to other hobbyists and feeling guilty about misinforming people,

Felsenstein did the work cheaply. In the process, he learned a great deal

about those early Altairs.” (p 109 Fire)

Also, Ted Nelson’s Computer Lib contained concrete criticism of

IBM’s management practices that were antithetical to the free flow of

ideas needed for technological development.( See “The Behemoth IBM”,

- Therefore the number in the top left position equals (n^2+1)/2+(n-1)/2

previous row.

The classical way of constructing an odd sized magic square is:

- put a one in the last column of the middle row.

- repeat the following steps:

- move one position to the right and one down. If you ‘fall off’ the

square: wrap around, i.e. consider the square as an unfolded torus.

- if the cell is free, put the next number there, otherwise move one

position to the left and put the number there

- until all positions are occupied.

Jos Horsmeier

Rotterdam, Netherlands

NEWS & VIEWS

COMMENTS FROM A CATERPILLAR

Discussion about the 5 month strike of UAW members against Caterpil-

lar Corporation which was ended when the International Union ordered

workers back to work. There is a Freenet Computer Bulletin in Peoria,

Illinois where workers, managers and other interested people discussed

and debated issues of the strike both during and after the 5 month

walkout. We are reproducing some of the comments of a Caterpillar

worker which were part of the Freenet CAT-UAW Open Forum. The

worker’s viewpoint is rarely heard in the U.S. Lines marked with “>” are

being quoted from another person’s post in the forum.)

From:

sorriest part of this entire situation is the distrust and lack of respect that

has grown over the last decade. Distrust and disrespect do not build

cooperation. I am afraid Cat’s latest antics have buried that hope for

good. I know they have for me. I could care less if Cat died tomorrow.

There is no way I can explain the feelings I had on the picket line,

watching hired security “people” videotape my moves. I did NOT feel

protected. Receiving propaganda at my home only made me curious

where the money was coming from for all the postage. The same with

the radio, TV, and newspaper nonsense. I was not convinced Cat valued

me.

Page 25