As Eric Benhamou, the very thoughtful chairman of a Silicon Valley corporation called 3Com, put it, those millions of Americans unfamiliar with computer civilization are steadily falling behind. They are living in the woods while others prosper in the high tech cosmopolis. Benhamou believes that the continuance of this condition will cost society hugely. As I say, here were your typical Americans, well-intentioned, and earnest to do good. Unquestionably, computer-savvy Americans are leading increasingly prosperous lives of ease and excitement.
Schools can drop a course or two in sex education or anxiety management and add computer training.
Industry can distribute increasingly inexpensive computers throughout society. But during these learned discussions a chill of skepticism stole over me. Many Americans, indeed many inhabitants of the planet Earth, are going to have no more interest in computers than they have in ballroom dancing. Industry can give a citizen the simplest computer or the most developed, but if the citizen does not want to use the computer nothing can be done for the wretch. Hours after I left the conference a friend in West Africa called.