Stimulants and Barriers

An examination of microelectronic processes in place throughout the economy will establish that computers and other electronic applications to production processes, are still a very small part of the total production infrastructure of the economy. In view of the many positive characteristics that electronic instruments and processes contain why has the rate of application been so slow? On the other hand, is it conceivable that the technology is so deceptive that we fail to notice its creeping intrusion into every-day activity? Children are using a variety of electronic instruments and processes in education and play; the operation of our cars is increasingly regulated by electronic instruments; we are being watched electronically in banks, department stores, airports and thousands of other places; our names, addresses, occupations and financial standing are stored, retrieved, and transmitted electronically from country to country; and we carry electronic watches, cook in electronically regulated stoves and microwave ovens, heat our homes with gas, oil or electricity whose flows are regulated electronically, watch television and listen to radio, both of which are largely electronic instruments performing a service function produced almost entirely electronically.