On the social role of computer communications

Computer-communication systems appear essential to meeting many needs in our society resulting from greater interdependence and complexity of operation and from rising expectations. There are, in principle, different ways of utilizing them for the same purposes, with radically different social consequences. The choice, which amounts in effect to a social decision, is, in practice, severely restricted by the computer hardware and software and by the communication facilities that happen to be available at the time. The paper discusses some of the pressures that lead to more widespread use of computers in the operation of society and illustrates how specific characteristics of computer-communication systems may influence social trends and, in particular, individual freedom.