A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

This Orwellian year of 1984 provides an inviting occasion for us to look to the past, present and future of mankind and in particular to consider the constantly changing relations between Science and Society. While George Orwell pin-pointed with great dramatic effect many of the political dangers of “double-think”, the perversion of truth for political ends, he underestimated in other ways the enormous changes which Science had in store for us. The major problem we face today is of course the existence of atomic weapons and our capacity to destroy civilization, but even if this problem is solved many other challenges remain and prominent among these is the computer revolution.

It is now commonly acknowledged that we are firmly embarked on an economic and social revolution which will be comparable in scope and effect to the industrial revolution. There are here many significant analogies but also many important differences, notably in the speed of change. Whereas the industrial revolution is usually measured in centuries, the computer revolution is properly measured in decades. Since the human life-span has not fundamentally altered, the impact of the computer revolution will be faster and more acute in sociological terms, and coming to terms with it will be correspondingly more difficult.