é Sunday News, December 13, 1981

MY FAVORITE computer horror story to date
concerns the man who was killed by one.

His name was Frank
Booth, a Flerida. man who
had the bad luck to own a
car that somehow got listed
in the American. National
Crime Information “Centre’s
computer as “stolen.”

Poor , bloke... When the
police
climbed out of the car and
casually -. ‘reached for his
wallet. .

“The cops blew him to.

pieces.

‘My second-favorite
computer horror story is the
near-miss -at New York's
Kennedy.. Airport ‘last: year
when -.a:-computer.“that is
supposed. ‘identify _planes
on:. radar creens:. started
coming -up..with the ‘wrong
information.

:<There’s.. not . much - point
talking about the NORAD
computer:...that’ announced
the Russians ‘had launched-a

nuclear. attack. Jast-summer, .

triggering’'a red alert that
could have easily led to a
realwar. ~

I mean, that’s beyond
korror, In a realm of its own.

I ‘understand perfectly
well that computers aren't
going to go away. Day by

Stopped : him, he we

day, they take over more
and more functions in my
life which up until then were
managed by a human being.
There’s no point standing
in the path of the print-out of

progress, of course. And far

be it from me to defy the big

Gata-bit of fate.

I can see the programming
on the wall.

"Besides, I might as well
admit it. There are some
tricks that computers can
perform which are
tempting.

Fm quite sucked-in,

‘frankly, by the idea of being.

| by Bob Hunter |

plugged into a Video Display
Terminal at home, which
would save me_ going
anywhere in pursuit of truth.

In fact, there is very
serious talk among computer
retailers, at least, about the
“work-at-home society.” It
makes economic sense, you
see.

The cost of computer
technology is plunging all
the time, while the costs of
fuel, transportation, roads,
parking and office space are
soaring.

At the moment, the
number of salaried work-at-
home employees in Canada
is close to zero. But ac-
cording to a Toronto
management consulting
firm, a trend in this direction

is absolutely inevitable.

In his book, The Third
Wave, Alvin Toffler quotes a
computer company
executive as saying: “Some
day soon, every home will
have a computer. It will be
as standard as the toilet.”

For some women, there
are obvious advantages to
not having to go to the of-
fice. No need to put on
makeup or worry about what
you wear. Wear nothing, if
you like. The computer
won't whistle — unless you
program it to.

For men, there are all
those temptations which can
be avoided, including the
temptation to stop for one-
too-many on the way home.
I'm sure we'll all live
statistically longer if duller,
lives.

s.¢ =

Here's the rub. How many
people want to be home all
the time? Besides which,
there’s a lot of non-verbal
information you can pick up
while driving to work that
never gets) stored in a
computer bank, no matter
how large.

lt wasn't his home

‘THE NEWS has been asked
to point out that an article
which inadvertently ap-
peared in two different spots
of Wednesday's paper
because of last minute
production changes in-
correctly stated that a man
had been rescued from a

burning couch in his home.

It appears that a man who
was lying unconscious when
he was rescued from a
burning couch at 2126
Marine Drive in West
Vancouver was not a
resident of that address but

SAaer

this Weeks Dinnew
Ane choice of Escargols ov Oviou Soup Qvatinée

Caesav Salad.

tere of Sole Augusto ov wewljonk Steal
ob ge in to other wwvecistible temptations

Ahe Savoury, iw Deep Cove reserve 20-2373

_was from Toronto, visiting a

guest of a party being held
there.

We apologize to the
residents of 2126 Marine
Drive for any em-
barrassment caused by the
error.

getting higher. Vital info like
that.

civilization in the far distant

Like the fact that split
skirts are coming back into. .

up into one unimaginably
d th
style, and that the splits are t:

I love the old science- of
fiction ° story about . the

future that-had colonized all
the universe, installing a
gigantic computer on each
world. ; ;
Finally, one day, all the
giant computers throughout
all the galaxies were hooked .

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