Saturday, July 6, 2013

What are the advantages of banning computers?

Banning computers completely would surely be disastrous for any society. We would lose so much if we did so. We would lose the ability to have computer-controlled machines make things for us at low price. We would lose the ability to store huge numbers of records (including those at banks and hospitals) in easily accessible ways. We would lose the internet and, with it, our ability to access huge amounts of information easily and to contact people around the world via email. All of this would be terrible for our society.
I can come up with at least three potential benefits of banning computers, though. First, repressive governments would find it easier to prevent the spread of information and opinions. Without computers, people would have to spread opinions through actually talking to one another or printed materials. It is harder to spread information and ideas this way than through computers, making it is easier for the government to crack down on people spreading information. Thus, some repressive governments might like to ban computers.
Secondly, if we ban computers, we would open up many more jobs for people. If there were no computers, we would again need large numbers of secretaries, typists, and clerks in every office. They would be needed for filing papers and finding papers people needed. We would need more people to do the jobs of machines currently controlled by computers. There would be many more jobs in these areas than we have now. Of course, we would lose all the jobs that we have that depend on computers, so this might not be a net benefit.
Finally, we could argue banning computers would make our society more human once more. Today, people can avoid face-to-face interactions with other people more than ever before. They can also say horrible things anonymously through the internet. These behaviors make our society worse because they loosen the bonds between people. If we banned computers, we might have a more civil and polite society in which people interacted more with one another than we do now.
These are some possible benefits of banning computers, though such an idea is surely absurd in today’s world.

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