Something I learned from Star Trek

One thing I've learned from Star Trek (TOS) is that back in the 60's, apparently everyone was terrified of letting computers control their lives. Computers, machines, everything that takes the work away from people. Over and over episodes express misgivings about machines and computers taking over and how horrible this is when we rely on them too much because it will... oh, take away from our humanity or something.

Well, it happened. Computers have taken over. The average person is powerless to do anything against the system. Nobody has the authority to change anything because procedure is locked into computer routines instead of personal interactions.

There was a time when you could appeal to a person to, say, give you a break on your mortgage payment. Now, nobody has that authority, even people who work for the bank, because everything is computerized, and nobody can change what the computer does.

So... was Kirk right?

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