On Sat, 24 Apr 1999, Richard Erlacher wrote:
> Well, Sellam, it's a question of statistics. The population was about 225
> Million back then +/- some number, and the people in the US or even the
> world who had any notion of what a digital computer was was probably around
> a hundred, well, maybe a thousand. Now, you started out with an "average"
> American. Of the thousand or so to whom owning a computer didn't amount to
> slavery, how many do you think could afford to spend the equivalent of a
> half-year's groceries, during the period when the word "recession" was
> invented, on something the maximal function of which was strictly limited in
> purpose to some form of mental masturbation? They couldn't use the excuse
> that "we could use it to manage our checking account . . ." or some such,
> because it wouldn't do that. Do you think the average American could afford
> to spend that kind of dough on something he didn't need? Do you think he'd
> have spent the dough on something it probably would have benefitted him NOT
> to have? . . . like a digital computer toy?
Yes.
Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar_at_siconic.com
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Received on Sun Apr 25 1999 - 14:50:23 BST