As computers become more and more advanced, they seem to have taken over a role in society that was unthinkable only a few years ago. This is especially true in regards to the job sector where we have seen thousands of jobs disappear because companies realized that they could replace their workers with computer operated machinery. Lanier alludes to this point when he discusses how one of the dark sides to industrialization is that computers are making the skills that humans worked so hard to master completely obsolete. No longer does GM need to employ as many employees at their factories to produce cars. Rather the majority of the construction is done primarily by a robot who is able to build the car cheaper and faster than a human.
The key question to ask of all of this is what are the long term effects of computer operated machines becoming more and more of a fixture in the workplace and replacing the individuals who used to work those jobs? The answer to this question is not simple for one has to examine both the economic benefits and pitfalls of this development. In my opinion I feel that we can not place all our eggs in one basket and rely on computers to accomplish jobs that we do have trained workers to do. While computers are able to save these companies money, they are also hurting our economy by making jobs obsolete.
All this being said what we need to take out of this all is the fact that computers have assumed an important place in our economy. We can't change what we have already done now. What we need to do going forward though is analyze the pros and cons of using computers to replace workers. We cannot let our skilled employees disappear because they have been replaced by computers. We need to be able to both embrace this new technological age but also be weary of its implications.
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