Computer technology has become an important part of our lives and it has given people ability to perform many tasks at the same time, for examples sending emails, research work, and chatting on the internet in the chat rooms. “Policies which regulate and guide the use of computer technology in the world has not been put in place and those that already exist are inadequate to guide the use of internet” (Moor 24), and this is what we call it policy vacuum.
Piracy is stealing of another person copyright or work and not acknowledging the source of that work. There are no proper laws in place that can be used to protect inventors of computer applications against piracy. Every year billions of dollars are lost as a result of piracy in the United State. Richard Stallman the founder of Free Software Foundation is advocating for availability of free information in the United State and his argument is that, applications like software and programs which run in computers should not be protected under the copyright Laws that are there in the country. Internet fraud is another example of policy vacuum and this is the extortion over the internet. Fraudsters are operating on the internet and their main aim is to extort money from users who are purchasing goods and services over the internet. “Fraudsters will take your money but will not deliver the goods and services which you have paid for” (Gilder 43).
Conceptual Vacuum
Conceptual vacuum occur when people or law makers want to make some changes on laws that constitute a policy vacuum, but they have not done enough research for those changes which they want to make on policy vacuum. “Computer technology is changing at a rapid rate and this has made it difficult for law makers in the country to make changes on those laws that involves policy vacuum” (Gilder 43).
Privacy is an example of conceptual vacuum, in the early 70s many Americans families were frightened by the government surveillance on their lives, since the government feared an attack from within its borders by terrorists. The government was doing this to try and catch the terrorists before they strike in the United State. “The demand to catch terrorist before they strike have made the intelligence service to spy on the people and they are doing this to try and stop a repeat of 9/11 terrorist attack” (Bohman 32). There are a lot of information which can be accessed on the internet and the use of internet in the world has been left unchecked because there is no proper way to control those users in the United State, for example sending anonymous hate mails to someone you don’t like or posting of photographs of someone without his/her consent.
Logical Malleability
A computer can be programmed or shaped to do anything as long as those characteristics are in term of inputs and output. The potential of computer applications are limitless and it only limited to someone creativity. “At present people are able to do many things at ago with the help of a computer, for example you can send an email, chat with a person from another place and make business deals through the internet” (Bohman 32).
Computer Revolution
“Industrial revolution is a period that occurred between the 17th -19th centuries, there were some changes that were experienced in manufacturing, mining and agriculture industries” (Gilder 43). All changes experienced in these sectors had an effect on the socio-economic and cultural conditions that started in Britain and after that, it spread to other parts of the world including the United States and Europe. Computer revolution can be compared to that of Industrial revolution that was experienced in Britain because it has social-economic impact to the users, for examples jobs opportunities has been created as a result of computer revolution. Computer revolution is not complete, there are better and fast computers being produced. 10 years ago computer used to run on a speed of 12Mb RAM but as for now computer are running with a speed of 8 Gb which is much faster as you compare it with those computer which exist 10 years back. As the years are moving on Computers are becoming smaller and smaller, 20 years ago we did not have laptops but today computers are smaller in the form of laptops.
Computer Computation
Since the development of the computer has made work easier for human beings particular those who are working in banks and financial institutions. Accounting programs which run on computer has made work easier for clerks because few years back clerks in banks used to enter data manually and this process was cumbersome and time wasting, but today programs has been created to make data entry easier. Another example of the use of computer computation is; a database can be created for information on patients in hospitals or any other place like in schools. “This data base can show how a student has performed in his or her exams and this will help teachers to monitor the progress of student in a school” (Moor 24).
Questions
- Q.1: What is the future of computer?
- Q2: What are advantages of the use of computer?
- Q3: What is a supercomputer? And do they exist?
Conclusion
Dr. Moor was right on computer revolutions, since computer was created about 45 years ago it has change the way man sees the world and it has made the world to be a smaller and smaller because computer applications like the use of emails has made and voice over IP has made communication easier. Jobs opportunities have been created as results of computer revolutions. We all need computer but at the same time we must be aware because there are some negative impacts which have been brought by computer revolutions, for example pornographic images which are found in the internet and viruses which spoils our computer.
Works Cited
Bohman, James. The Transformation of the Public Sphere: Political Authority, Communicative Freedom and Internet Publics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.Print.
Gilder, George. Telecosm: How Infinite Bandwidth will revolutionize Our World. New York: Oxford Publishers, 2006. Print.
Moor, James. What Is Computer Ethics. New York: The Free Press, 1985. Print.