COMPUTERS HIT HOME 

ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE AND JAPANESE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WISDOM MACHINE MAY SEEM THE DISTANT DREAM OF MAD SCIENTISTS WITH NO IMPACT ON US LITTLE FOLKS. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

VERY PRACTICAL SPINOFFS HAVE ALREADY MADE INROADS INTO CONSUMER, EDUCATION AND BUSINESS MARKETS. YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING BECAUSE, LIKE IT OR NOT, IT IS AFFECTING YOUR PRESENT AND FUTURE LIFE IN SURPRISING WAYS.

FIRST, A FEW WORDS ABOUT MY COMPUTER.

IT IS AN APPLE MACINTOSH PLUS. ITS 20 MEGABYTE HARD DISC DRIVE PERMITS STORAGE OF VAST AMOUNTS OF DATA AND GRAPHICS IN A BOX ABOUT THE SIZE OF A TIN OF CHRISTMAS COOKIES.

JUST A FEW YEARS AGO SUCH CAPACITY AND ABILITY WAS ONLY AVAILABLE TO VERY LARGE COMPANIES AT ASTRONOMICAL PRICES AND CONTINUING HIGH OPERATING COSTS. THOSE WERE THE DAYS WHEN WHITE-SMOKED HIGH PRIESTS OF THE COMPUTER WORLD MADE IT SEEM THAT MERE MORTALS COULD NEVER HOPE TO ACHIEVE THEIR LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE.

TIMES HAVE CERTAINLY CHANGED. IF I CAN DO IT, ANYBODY CAN. POWER THAT EMPERORS AND KINGS NEVER DREAMED OF IS NOW, AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE.

CURIOSITY AND INITIATIVE ARE ALL YOU NEED.

REMEMBER, INFORMATION IS POWER.

FIFTY YEARS AGO THE FAMILY WHO ACQUIRED AN ENCYCLOPEDIA HAD WITHIN THEIR GRASP THE AMOUNT OF KNOWLEDGE THAT A FEW GENERATIONS EARLIER WAS AVAILABLE ONLY TO THE SO-CALLED MAN OF LETTERS.

TODAY ANY PERSON, YOUNG OR AGED, WHO HAS A COMPUTER, A PHONE LINE AND A MODEM (THE ELECTRONIC TRANSLATOR THAT ALLOWS ONE COMPUTER TO TALK TO ANOTHER) HAS ACCESS TO MORE INFORMATION IN ONE EVENING THAN BOTH HIS PARENTS HAD WITHIN THEIR LIFETIME. AND, IF THE COMPUTER IS COMPLEMENTED WITH A SATELLITE DISH, HE WOULD LIKELY HAVE ACCESS TO MORE INFORMATION THAT SAME EVENING THAN ALL HIS ANCESTORS IN RECORDED HISTORY!

THAT IS THE FIRST STEP.

YOU ALSO HAVE TO DISCOVER HOW TO ACCESS THAT INFORMATION AND THEN DECIDE WHAT TO DO WITH IT.

BUT IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THUS. THOSE WHO GO OUT OF THEIR WAY TO LEARN, VIA THE METHODS OF THE DAY, ARE THE ONES WHO PROFIT IN THE FUTURE.

MANY STUDIES SUGGEST THAT ONLY 15 PERCENT OF A LIFETIME INCOME RESULTS DIRECTLY FROM FORMAL STUDIES. THE OTHER 85 PERCENT COMES FROM WHAT YOU LEARN YOURSELF -- AT HOME, FROM OTHERS, FROM STUDIES, ON-THE-JOB TRAINING AND SO ON.

THE LATEST COMPUTERS AND PROGRAMS PROVIDE MOUNTAINS OF KNOWLEDGE -- UNFATHOMABLE TO THE AVERAGE PERSON.

IT IS NOT EVEN DIFFICULT TO ACCESS ONCE YOU PUSH YOURSELF TO SEE THE POSSIBILITIES.

ALL THAT BACKGROUND IS THE LONG WAY OF TELLING YOU THAT THERE IS A NEW APPLE IN THE BASKET OF THE STATE-OF-THE-ART COMPUTER WORLD. THIS IS THE SECOND GENERATION MACINTOSH, KNOWN SIMPLY AS MAC II.

THE FIRST GENERATION MACINTOSH'S WERE THE BIG ADVANCE THAT SPURRED A NEW DEVELOPMENT CALLED DESKTOP PUBLISHING. THIS COMPUTER CREATED MANY MODERN DAY GUTENBERGS, WHO PUBLISHED AT A SPEED MANY, MANY TIMES FASTER THAN THE WORLD'S FIRST MOVABLE TYPE PRINTER (THIS "BOOK" WAS TOTALLY PRODUCED ON MY MACINTOSH PLUS).

THE MORE MODERN (UNTIL RECENTLY) APPLE HELPS PRODUCE FASTER, CLEANER AND MORE MODERN NEWSPAPERS AT LOWER COST. AND IT ALLOWS NEWSPAPERS TO DO A BETTER JOB FOR ADVERTISERS BY SHRINKING PUBLICATION DEADLINES.

THE NEW UNITS ARE DESIGNED FOR ADVANCED APPLICATIONS IN BUSINESS AND HIGHER EDUCATION. THE MAC II HANDLES COLOR AND OPERATES AT SPEEDS ACCESSIBLE ONLY TO THE MILITARY A FEW YEARS AGO. EARLIER MAC MODELS CAN BE UPDATED TO MAC PLUS LEVELS AND ALL MAC SOFTWEAR IS COMPATIBLE, A BIG PLUS AS ANY COMPUTER BUFF KNOWS.

MINE CAN EVEN TALK AS I TYPE. THINK WHAT THIS MEANS TO THE SPEECH IMPAIRED. HARD WIRE THIS COMPUTER INTO YOUR PHONE LINE AND THAT HANDICAP VANISHES.

ARE YOU DISABLING YOURSELF BY NOT KEEPING UP WITH THE TIMES?

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