Every time one of us returns to the United States for a vacation or home leave, we can't help but be awed by the rapid pace of the computerization of the developed world. The pervasiveness of computers is staggering. College students need a computer nowadays instead of the pen and notebook of old. When I went to the Toyota spare part department, the mechanic processed the whole search and purchase transaction on his computer, never looking in the stock room.
Satellites enable instantaneous worldwide news coverage.
Airplanes routinely offer satellite phone use for their passengers. Mom and Dad can each have their own mobile cell phone in their cars. No longer are pagers the gadgets of doctors on call. Now parents give pagers to their teenagers so that they can always find them. On the other hand, village folks in Tanzania and in many other parts of the Third World have never seen a computer nor do they understand what computers do.