The Computer and the State

ID
TR-81-06
Authors
Richard S. Rosenberg
Publishing date
July 1981
Abstract

It is obviously difficult (if not impossible) to predict the impact on society of technological innovation. However, it is clear that such major events as the industrial revolution recreate society in a profound and enduring manner. In our own time, the development of the computer promises to transform dramatically the major industrial countries of the world. The resulting effects on the so-called Third World countries will hardly be less significant.

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we wish to catalogue many of the ways computers have affected and are likely to affect our daily lives. A second purpose is to employ this analysis to explore the effect of the massive "computerization" of society on a number of its institutions. It is hoped that the material provided will be useful to those whose major concern is the evolution of the modern state in response to technological innovation.