MCS-170 The Nature of Computer Science

The Impact of Computers on Society

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1. The Information Revolution

• The Third Wave - published 1980 by Alvin Toffler - futurist - described major revolutions in human history
  

• First Wave - Agricultural economy (thousands of years ago)

"In the first wave, wealth was land, and it was exclusive; if I grew rice on my acres, you could not."

• Second Wave - Industrial economy (18th century)

"In the second wave, wealth diversified into three factors of production: land, labor, and capital. However, production drained a company of resources."

"A central theme of the industrial regime was centralization and standardization."

• Third Wave - Information economy (now)

"In the third wave, wealth is knowledge. Microsoft is not drained of its resources when it ships a package of Windows 95. The land, muscle, and money in Redmond, Washington, are not the source of the company's wealth; the knowledge of its software developers is."

"Technology took a sharp turn away from standardization and toward individuation and diversity."

"In a not-always-pleasant way, the third wave began decentralizing the machine heart. Today is a time of transition, in which we witness the curious spectacle of massive second-wave-type enterprises adapting to the third-wave appetite for differentiation."

"A third-wave predicament is Overchoice."

"The regime of the smokestacks has been toppled forever. What remains is still frothing and changing its shape. It is a whole new era, with dangers and opportunities uniquely its own."

"We are not currently in Toffler's third wave; we are still in transition between the second and third waves, and that is why the implications of the transformation are not immediately obvious."

(from http://www.skypoint.com/members/mfinley/toffler.htm)

• Second Wave vs Third Wave Example
• Microsoft - centralized control, mass-market, commoditization of software (one size fits all - you have to take what Microsoft offers)
• Linux & Open Software Movement - decentralized control, no one owns software, individual can modify software to their needs.
  
• Which will win out in the end?
  

• Information Revolution Impact on Workforce

2. Benefits of the Information Revolution

• Digital Convergence -- the computer as an active, intelligent information device, used throughout daily life.
  
• Embedded CPU's in everything - microwave, cell phone, cash register, car, atm, TV's, CAT scan, DNA and human genome, etc
  
• Smarter use of resources, greater connectivity, ready access to information

• E-commerce -- Internet and WWW enabling new modes of commerce
• Democritization of access to goods
  
• Greater individuation of commerce
• Some have succeeded - Amazon, Ebay
• Many have flared out - Internet Crash of 2000-2001

• Liberation of Data -- Web allows universal access to data
• Poor contries are put on a level playing field, IF they have internet connections
• Blogs -- anyone's ideas can be sent to millions
  

3. Possible Dangers of an Information Society

• Runaway Complexity -- Systems are becoming so complex, we cannot grasp them anymore.
  
• Example: Microsoft's new operating system is called "Longhorn." Its ship date was originally 2004, but slipped to 2005 and then to 2006 and now possibly to 2007. Why? It is estimated that Longhorn will inolve about 75 million lines of computer code.
  

• Privacy and Security -- danger of loss of ownership of personal data
• Levels of Control of Data By an Institution (store) --
• 1. No Use - Information is destroyed once a store is done with it (when check has cleared)
  
• 2. Approval - Store can further use data, but only if you approve
• 3. Objection - Store can use data, will be blocked only if you object
• 4. No Limits - Store can use data any way it wants
• Where is US?  (Close to 4!)
• Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Canada? (Close to 1!)
  

• Cookies -- When a browser accesses a Web page, the Web server can request that your browser store a small piece of information, called a cookie, on your machine. When you go to this Web page again, the Web server can ask for this cookie and can use that cookie in processing.
• Example: Browser - review cookies of instructor, many of these are set by web sites instructor never visited!
  
• The information about your web visits can be legally shared amongst other web sites, without your knowledge.
  
• 2000 - Intuit was sued by users of its Quicken mortgage software. Through cookies, private financial data was being disclosed to mass advertiser Double-Click,  data which included email addresses, home value, etc.
  

• Government Access -- FBI "Carnivore" -- a software program that monitors packets of data passing through an Internet service provider's network. It can record information such as what Web sites a user has visited, cookies, time of searches, and log-on/log-off information.
  
• Carnivore was dropped by FBI in Jan 2005, switch to commercial "sniffing" software.
  

• Digital Divide -- Access to technology is not equal
• USA - Minorities and the poor are much less likely to be connected to Internet
• WorldWide - wide disparity in infrastructure, which creates imbalance, North vs South
• Trends? - Those countries that make infrasturcture investment will succeed in new economy.
• Infrastructure Measure - Phone Lines
  

• Intellectual Laziness or Ignorance -- danger of losing base knowledge. If I can look it up on the Internet, why learn it?
  
• Example: Calculators (good or evil?) Do we see the calculator as a tool or as an authority we trust without question? How do we know what it is telling us is correct?
  
• The indiscriminate use of new technology can have very negative side effects

4. Conclusion - Is IT Revolution Good or Bad?

• Optimist -- IT Revolution will liberate humans from dull and boring work. We will have more time for creative activity and spiritual renewal. Broad access to information will help bring about participatory democracy and a perfect economic system.  Technology will improve quality of life, e.g.,  through new medical uses of computer systems.
  

• Pessimist -- There really is no fundamental change in society, only incremental difference. Competition and the profit motive will only become more fierce.  There will be increasing intrusion into our private lives by bureaucracy. This is the beginning of a new dark age for societies.