*** Copyright c 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1995 by Nicholas
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Information Age

      It's time to say hello to the Information Age and goodbye to this
column I've called "Communications Watch. We've made it, you and I.
We're settled in.
      For five years, in one form or forum or another, this column has
attempted to sound a Paul Revere warning: "The electronics are coming.
The electronics are coming."
      It was a transition period. Although "home computers" had been
available to hobbyists since about 1975, they were not purchased in
significant numbers for real work until recently.
      Consumer, or at least portable, video tape recorders had been
available in some form in the 1970s. But they, like computers, did not
become a mass market item until the 1980s.
      The same trends have been true of home satellite dishes, portable
(and now "cellular") telephones and the maturation of cable television.
      Microprocessor-driven devices, many of which talk to us, are now
everywhere from our cars to our cameras.
      It hasn't been easy, this transition. Major social changes never are.
      Imagine the emotional upheaval it must have caused for our first
forebearers, the nomadic foragers, to change to a settled, agricultural life.
      Or for an agricultural society to have to pull up roots, leave forest
and farm, and gather in large, dirty urban dwellings. One generation
dealing with fresh air, soil and praying to God it would rain, the next
generation dealing with polluted air, factories, and praying for sun light.
      Well, the transition from the industrial age to the information age
has been no easier.  The dislike, distrust and fear that some have of
computers is so strong that they simply never will learn to relate to them
during their lifetimes. It will take a new generation.
      Even simple microprocessors are too much for many of us. Johnny
Carson and Erma Bombeck, among others, have publicly confessed to not
being able to set the clocks on their VCRs. They just continually flash
12:00 o'clock, begging to be properly set.
      Middle management executives used to think technological
unemployment was of concern only to assembly line workers displaced by
robots. Now they realize even management's positions are not secure.
      Those monthly reports they used to grind out can be obtained
faster by their bosses with desktop computers tied into mainframes.
      Nor is the impact limited to the work place. The information age is
affecting the way we raise our kids and what becomes of our families, the
role of religion, and what we mean by "education."
      The standard desktop computer will become faster, with more
memory and functions.  Our homes and "smart buildings" will become
more automated. But the trends are clear. By now most of us have a
pretty good notion of what's happening.
      It's time for the "Communications Watch" to come down from its
tower. Goodbye, Happy New Year -- and New Age.
      [December 1, 1986; King December 28, 1986; ICPC January 1, 1987]
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