Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!bellcore!texbell!uhnix1!sugar!ficc!jeffd
From: jeffd@ficc.uu.net (jeff daiell)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: valid topics
Message-ID: <2272@ficc.uu.net>
Date: 19 Nov 88 10:40:13 GMT
Organization: Ferranti International Controls
Lines: 28


I received a msg via email that I should not place political comments
in this newsgroup.  I tried to reply to her via email, but was
unable to, so let me do so here, please.

Whether a computer network is provided by voluntaristic or
coercive means is a very important question in the future of
computing, so it should, indeed, be addressed here.

It has the following sub-questions:

  1. Who should/will pay for such a good/service -- users or
     taxpayers?

  2. Who should/will control it -- users or politicians/bureaucrats?

  3. Will its purpose be the advancement of computer science and 
     improvement of the general Human condition -- or the 
     enhancement/aggrandizement of political empires?              


I think these are things we should consider, as the answers will
determine the direction of a major aspect of computing's future.

Jeff Daiell
(opinions my own)
-- 
                   Fiat Justitia, Ruat Caelum