THE BRAIN THAT LIVES ON THE SHELF

How well I remember being dragged, screaming and kicking, into the world of computers. The year was 1982, I was in my mid 30’s and had a fear of computers taking over our lives.

Most of us have at least one computer in our home and use them for emailing, word processing and many other functions. However in those early days I was suspicious of the workings of computers. I had read sci-fi novels and seen movies where they were portrayed as machines with brains, capable of changing the course of mankind’s future.

I was right of course, maybe not in the scary, brain controlling way that I thought, but the world now completely depends on computers for virtually every single thing we do. We have put so much of our information into computers that the business world plus medical, travel and any other thing you can think of cannot function without them.

The scariest words in the world are “the computer is down”. How often have you heard that when trying to book an appointment, complain about any particular service or ask questions about a utility account? Without computers business just cannot function.

Remember the dreaded approach to the year 2000? It was almost like approaching the end of the world as millions of people worried that the business world would no longer function.

During the last part of my schooling I applied for a weekend job in the local Woolworth’s store. I was taken into an office given pencil and paper and had to do a list of additions and subtractions. This basic knowledge and a pleasant attitude were the only requirements needed for the job of being in charge of my particular counter.

Nowadays, you cannot buy a box of matches if the computer is down and sales clerks are no longer able to do this simple transaction. Even the smallest purchase has to be done through the computer as the information keyed in not only gives the correct change but alerts the store that one box of matches has been removed from stock. This constant stocktaking is the reason that shelves very rarely are seen empty, the computer keeps tabs on what is needed to be reordered.

My first introduction to a computer was a very simple one called a Vic 20, not a PC as we know them to day but a machine that executed all sorts of patterns and simple games if you typed in the instructions. I remember spending hours typing in two or three pages of letters, numbers and symbols and the result would be an array of stars or some sort of pattern that would dance up the screen of the small tv set the machine was hooked up to. Today’s nine year old would be disgusted with what we thought was marvellous in 1982.

We then moved up to an Atari ST which played great adventure games. I would sit up till 3.00am playing King’s Quest or Leisure Suit Larry, the graphics were so childish compared to today’s games but they were bang up to date at that time and I loved playing. I have always had a competitive nature so loved trying to do better each time I sat at the machine.

I now use my lap top mainly for word processing. It is a wonderful way to keep all my various interests and business ventures sorted into various categories all reachable at the touch of a button. With four daughters and many friends I find that emailing is the way to go, I think nothing of sending off just a couple of sentences to one of my girls where I would not bother taking the time to phone with the short message I have to impart.

When they are working they are man’s best friend but, they can be the most frustrating machine ever invented when you press a wrong button and you lose a couple of hours work to the great void where emails and accounts go to hide.