COMPUTERIZATION AND COMPUTERS

1 Ever since the beginning of time, man has made tools. At first, they were very primitive ones made of
stones; later bronze was used, and then men learned to work with iron. But even when these tools were
improved, men still had to use their hands. Nails had to be hammered in, wood and stone needed to be
carved and chipped. Every table, every pair of shoes and every yard of cloth was made by men’s hand and
trained labour.

6 At the end of the 18th century, steam was used to drive machinery and it was found that, for instance,
cotton could be spun by a machine, thus the need of so much human labour declined. The labour force
was divided into a small group of trained specialists and the vast mass of unskilled workers.

9 In the present age, we can see machinery performing what used to be done by the human worker’s hands.
We can see how this is done if we take motor-cars as an example. When they were first manufactured at
the beginning of the 20th century, each part was separately made and then assembled by trained workers
supervised by engineers. The first step was made when the complicated process was broken down into
separate parts, and each part made by a machine. If we have visited a car factory eighty years ago, we
could have seen men and women standing in front of a moving conveyor belt, and automatically dropping
a nail in a hole as it came; or perhaps a man giving a turn to a screw as it passed him. This work was deadly
monotonous and required little concentration. Now, machines have undertaken these tasks: dropping in
the nail and turning the screw. As a result, there is much less need for the human labour which used to
make up about 90% of the labour force of every factory.

19 But the machines are not only undertaking the work of people. They are themselves being controlled by
electronic computers. These have electronic brains, which are so complex and intricately designed that
can start an operation, check it correct an error, and register measurements, thus it is easy to see the
effects of all this. What is it going to happen to the workers in a factory run by computerization?
Unfortunately, the answer to this question seems quite logical. For instance, recently a factory was built
in Kent (UK) which cost £ 2.000.000, but it is operated by exactly seven employees! Nowadays in a
motor-car factory, 655 things are done just to a cylinder block by a continuous automated process.

26 Computerization did not only invade the factory, it also made a revolution in offices. Computers can do
calculations in half an hour which it might take a mathematician or an accountant two years to work out.
All over the world offices have installed computers to do work which was once done by many employees.
The result of this revolution is clearly unemployment which can be seen in the high rates of people out of
work, even in First World countries. But we may ask, is this a general problem? Probably not, because
more highly trained scientists are needed to design the new devices, and more engineers to make and
repair them, but fewer workers to do mechanical tasks. This means that the demand for specialized
professionals is increasing everywhere.