Southeastern Massachusetts University - Scrimshaw Yearbook (North Dartmouth, MA)

Page 26 text:

efzzq., ,, we f li i 'rs ia- Q ff 5212L5?,gfwi'i'5i'1g?j::'1J7f'1.':j.'gr':f,iF,2irfifif- f.9j2 . ' 25' 5' psidzrz-f':f- a -' f . , . 4 ' ' A 1:-f.v'f1' ' .si af 1' , '?T'aH5fEY 'fsgs5,i - , 5yia1Qf:rwfadYan. 5 .1 v-: f- a ' M- ,-. -' -w- rm- khftwf' 11:3-fsff1.. .'.'-411'-e. u. N - ' Q V , P P ?Q5.'45',.'i'A'2?' 1 ' . as , 1 5gP'7I'1.'. .. .' ff , v 3 rwefa, ,r ' ,,,qga,:.3-ke.gsm-izalfsfmls'ffsgvfaff-.fvfs1is-faf.g af ,,f 'ing 1 x , P iii 1- 64, 5fPf,41Lg,v.7fgm-fafsfCrm-'fs -ff.,:- 'I .1-1 .fl - -1 --s. , .mf we 'efiljf-1'3egwL'F'.,.. -.11',5i rf-'--. 2-1-fi.-..v.f . . f- m ga. Pf' 'Hvlfli POB'-'Yf Q, WJHQQPUOH .ij IA- il v Vior Wvfklv mfr'-'S' of H anxiety, -fdepremon.. Psvehvsemafiv Vsymptons -suicidek..l..We facethe ffactthatagreat majority of our people notgemotionally and l psychologically time. ,l.A This results in :unhealthy f f adaptations which find fexpression: in. a wwide' range of sociopathologic and psychopathologic states. Among, the social symptoms of 'tluls ,maladaptionto free time are: low civilian unrest subversiveness and rebellion. j ,We are all ' aware of the manifest acceleration of past which. bears our Martinfs -statement: let me very briefly recall a few of them: Thecrime rate is presently rising about ten percent a year as compared to a population increase of less than two per cent a year. 1 A . Drug addiction grows not 'only in the ghettoes but in the well-to-do- suburbs, and young 4 people are especially vulnerable to the activities of those who seek new recruits to the army of addicts. America, as a society, tolerates over forty thousand deaths in automobile accidents a year despite the fact that techniques -of accident-reduction are available for use. It ,is true that these societally disfunctional trends began long before the computer appeared on the scene, bu-t it is also true that our attempts to reverse these trends will be frustrated if we continue to regard the ability of the computer to act with maximum efficiency in the carrying out of an immediate task as more important than all of our fundamental values put together. Whether increasing violence and social disorder can fairly be laid at' the door ' of the computer is, however, peripheral to the possibility of the development of a police state. The only question is whether we will become convinced that our pre dominant need is for greater control over the individual and the means we will use to achieve it. We have so far failed to perceive that the types of control made possible by the inherent ,organizational drive of the computer within a cybernitics system have no common measure with our 'past experience in organization: 'I'hat the ...lm 1

Page 25 text:

period of time. It has been generally argued, most explicitly in W. W. Rostow's Stages of Economic Growth, that the way thepoor countriescanattain thrsgoalrs to heed the lessons of history, to pass through the Western stages of growth, although hopefully at a faster pace. It is surely time we recognized the inapplicability of this policy. The rate of economic growth of most poorcountries now depends prirmrily on their being able to export enough goods to pay for their needed unports. It rs clear that the poor countries will not be able to increase exports at an adequate rate to pay for the required growth in imports and that they will not be able to attain any reasonable tate of growth. Thevast majority of the poor countries have no prospect of achieving a reasonable standard s of living so long as the present socioeconomic system continues. There are a few optimists who persist in arguing that Western man can benefit rsnmediately from the decrease rh toil promised by the computer. An analysis of conclusion suggests that those reaching it have not yet ,understood that it is typically those people whose life and educational experience ensure that they have the least adequate preparation for imaginative and constructive activities wholwill receive the largest in time not allocated to the carrying lout of conventional jobs. This group .- is composed of two main categoriesrthose with . totally inadequate' .educations ftheupoverty-cycle group j 'and those whose education and training has been slanted almost entirely ' toward conformity in order top enable them to perform tasks which will nolonget' be needed by the socioeconomic system. e Those analysts who simply 'the threat to our socioeconomy represented by the large number of mdividuals who are already mamfestmg psychopathologic symptoms as a response to loss of their roles in the system 'also generally ignore the deep-seated threat which the machines pose to ernsting individual fundamental values and motivations. This threat is not manifest in economic statistics nor even rs: sociological monographs discussing the world view of the poor, but it is already affectmgall members of society, both employed and lunemployed. It is all-pervasive as advertising, and, like it, is constantly exerting pressures upon the individual, whether he be consdous of them or not. Some comments by Jack Weinberg, a psychiatrist, illuminate this issue: Complicated machines which .perform in intricate inviaisra' .patterns v are frightening. are -beyond the- commontmansn understanding and he cannot identify 4 with them. il-le experiences. hostmty ,toward such' ia machine, as he does toward most he fails to understand. Furthermore, automation has done something that rs unthinkable to a manwho valueshrs own self and that which he produces. In a sense, it has removeduhim from the product jwhichjhe creates....Work - 'no matter how odious an implication it may have to a .person - rsan enourmously prizedand meaningful experience to man. It rs not all punishment for his transgressions, as implied biblically butlit isalso a blessing,not only for common sense economic reasons...but,also because of its varied and unifying psychological implications. . in practice report increasingly I that their patients are concemed because they feel that they function in an inferior way compared to machines: that their limbs are not acting as efficient 'l'hey also report fantasies, such as dreams in which the patient is being backed into a comer by a computer. The popular arts. - cartoons, 'comedy-routines, and folk-songs - ind'9i5iIlUly reflect these , V 1 . 1 V

Page 27 text:

generalized use of the computer as a means of societal control threatens to destroy at least the privacy, and very probably all' the present rights of the individual unless we change the socioeconomic system. Let us be very clear: the only way to run the complex society of the second half- of the twentieth century is to use the computer. 'I'he question is to determine the rights of -the individual under-these circumstances and then to ensure that they are respected' by the computer-using authorities. , The danger rs imminent. Govemment already holds very substantial dossiers on a major part of the population, these are either in computer memories or can be placed in computer memories. Information on the financial affairs of each individual will soon be available through the development of the Intemal Revenue Service Computer System. It is now planned that the records ofthe Job Corps will be placed on computers,,a step which will inevitably be extended to cover all those that the .govemment considers to be in need of help to findor regain a place in society. In the areaof the ,exercise of socially-sanctioned force and compulsion, it is significant. to note that New York State is developing a statewide police rnforrnadon network: a network which all authorities agree could be extended nation wide within a brief period of years. ' ' ' - ' .- Some form of dehumanized, impersonal world is inevitable in the next twenty years unless we make major changes rn our socioeconomic system. Only the working out of a new balance with the aid of society's servants -computer systems- will enable us to meet our fundamental societal goals. 1 . I have been discussing the effect of the drives exertedfbyn. the application of computers ,in reinforcing industrial-age values . and ,thus inhibiting our forward ' movement into' fthe cybernated era. I would now like to turn to a consideration of the potential of thesedrives as aidsin the effert to move toward the realization of ' our fundamental societal goals in the new context of .a cybernetics-based socioeconomy. It is- my contention that the positive potential -of these drives will not become a reality while we continue on our present course, while' we subordinate efforts to correct socioeconomic ills tothe goal of the continuation of an outmoded industrial-age system, with its now inappropriate set of restraints and lack of restraints. If we are to have a more fulfilling way of life in- the cybemetics-baed abundance Sera, we must take' conscious steps to enable us to arrive at a new set ofrestrarhts and lack of restraints and a new balance between them. , Let us begin with a consideration of the drive toward unlimited destructive power: it is now generally accepted that this can only be prevented from destroying mankind rfwe renounce force, and even the threatof force, and that this requires that negotioation and arbitration become the means of settling disputes., In effect, nations will have to move toward world cooperation and world law. We are, at the present time witnessing the early efforts of institutions which' could become the creators and administrators of world law, but we continue to view such efforts as primarily aimed at peace-keeping. Despite the disu ons at meetings and conferences, our perception of the role of worldcooperation in achieving socioeconomic advances remains very dim, for we still allow language and .cultural barriers to impede the free flow of information. The physical barriers to commuication are the channels are opening. Our role is to ensure that we use them, not. allow ourselves to be persuaded that we should block them, once again. g ' 'I 4 g The drive toward unlimited productive power can result in mst benefits, both inter nationally and domestically, but only if we change the methods presently. used to distribute rightsgto resources. It is, of course, impo 'ble to determine the final pattem which will. emerge but I A .being wud. with the aid of Cybernetics' believe that the need for three steps can already beseen: ' -A