text: The computer has been one of the most influential inventions of all time. Computers now dominate the majority of government business, science and communication, as well as many other areas of human life. In many ways, it has taken the place of the human brain in performing calculations and thought processes.
  	The most obvious example of this is the calculator, an instrument used by mathmeticians and scientists for making numerical calculations. This has made it no longer necessary for the human to perform calculations and run through equations, and so need not understand the principles behind them any longer. This, unfortunately, means that the genius scientist is being replaced by the powerful computer and its operator, who needs only to know which buttons to press. This may seem an extreme view, as there is still much in the world of maths and science which a computer cannot calculate, but this may not be the case centuries into the future.
  	Computers have been used as a means of keeping records, they have all but superseded handwritten text, (in a few decades people may well be faced with a computer screen and keyboard in their General Studies exam), they are used to transfer money across the globe, even to create artwork and to entertain. Computer generated pictures, including `fractal' pictures, drawn from equations, seem to be more popular than hand printed images from an artist's imagination, and computer games seem to provide more entertainment than any game or activity that takes place in the real, physical world. Virtual reality allows people to have `3-D' entertainment created for them by a computer.
  	Whether or not the computer is taking over from the human brain, it has certainly made the human body all but redundant. People, businesses or corporations can be contacted at any point around the globe by fax machines, e-mail and the internet, and some people prefer these forms of communication to actually meeting face to face. Money can be transferred instantly without even needing to move the actual money - the physical coinage doesn't matter, it is the computer records that state how much each bank has ownership of.
  	However, the idea that the human brain is no longer useful is not entirely true(!) Computers cannot deal with human beings, have no capacity for coping with anything outside their expected situations, and cannot adapt to new situations using judgement. Human beings often act without logic or reason, and only other human beings can cope and deal with that.
  	Also, computers can break down, and then a human is needed to take control - such as an airline pilot, and there are still certain tasks only a human being can perform, and they are often among the simplest.
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