Newsgroups: comp.infosystems.gis
Date:         Fri, 24 Jul 1992 11:22:00 PDT
              <GIS-L@UBVM.BITNET>
From:         Chris Hermansen <clh@TFIC.BC.CA>
Subject:      Re: Value of Advanced Technology (a reposting)
X-To:         GIS-L@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu

PAOLIVER@INDYVAX.BITNET makes some nice points about technology and ethics.

If I may add my $0.02 worth...

>  Coming from another aspect, it is simply in the interest of both taxi
>companies and their customers to be able to get the most efficient service
>possible. This is what free trade makes possible: better ideas are rewarded,
>and the inefficient are rapidly eliminated or forced to catch up

Maybe so, maybe not.  IMHO, problems arise in the process of freeing trade
that may outweigh the benefits.  Suppose you "deregulate" the taxi business.
What exactly does this mean?  Anyone who wants to can drive a taxi?  I'm not
sure I can agree that this best serves the customers - would you get into a
taxi driven by a driver with no driver's permit, no insurance, no safety
inspection?  I would prefer not to.  With no regulation, though, how could
you tell?  Now suppose the disgruntled taxi driver gets a loan from the bank
to buy a cab and begins operation, only to be driven out of business by a
cartel that can charge less because it employs its own mechanics and gets
fleet rates on vehicle purchases.  So the shareholders of the bank are now
on the hook because the DTD has gone bust.  How have they benefited?  Finally,
suppose the city of Paris decides to deregulate taxis, but recognizing that
many of the issues are complex, they strike a 10m FF commission to study the
problem and make recommendations.  How have the taxpayers benefited by this?
Most of them probably would have preferred spending the 10m FF on the metro
instead.

>   In short: What reason makes possible, irrationality will mis-use. So
>the issue is not whether "computers (or GIS)" are "good" are not; it is
>whether the people using them are good or not.

Actually, I think there's another, perhaps more serious, problem here.  Whether
the GIS user is "good" or "bad", "rational" or "irrational", etc doesn't
address one fundamental concern: are they *capable*.  This is at the root of
a fallacy we all subscribe to from time to time: it's good/bad to give the
user all the power s/he needs, but no one ever asks if the user *deserves* it.

I point to legions of professionals (like engineers, foresters, ag scientists,
yes, even geographers!) who staunchly defend their professional credentials
on the one hand and then go off and write computer software on the other.
This is a bit daft... but if you want to see the best example of an unregulated
society, and what it's pros and cons are, look at the software development
community.  Anybody who wants to write code can!  No restrictions!!!  And look
at the results; how much good stuff is out there, how much bad; how many
important decisions are made these days on incorrect results resulting from
buggy software or incompetent users; etc.

Oh well; off the soapbox for awhile.  Thanks for the thoughts, PAOLIVER

Chris Hermansen                         Timberline Forest Inventory Consultants
Voice: 1 604 733 0731                   302 - 958 West 8th Avenue
FAX:   1 604 733 0634                   Vancouver B.C. CANADA
clh@tfic.bc.ca                          V5Z 1E5

C'est ma facon de parler.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU