Computers Concern YouWhen Charles Babbage, a professor of mathematics at Cambridge Univers

Computers Concern You

When Charles Babbage, a professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, invented the first calculating machine in 1812 he could hardly have imagined the situation we find ourselves in today. Nearly everything we do in the modern world is helped, or even controlled, by computers, the complicated descendants of his simple machine. Computers are being used more and more extensively in the world today, for the simple reason that they are far more efficient than human beings. They have much better memories and can store huge amounts of information, and they can do calculations in a fraction of the time taken by a human mathematician. No man alive can do 500,000 sums in one second, but an advanced computer can. In fact, computers can do many of the things we do, but faster and better. They can pay wages, reserve seats on planes, control machines in factories, work out tomorrow's weather, and even play chess, write poetry, or compose music. Let's look now at some of the ways in which computers concern people in their daily lives and work.

Computers and our Cash

Mr. Woods, a bank manager, discussed some of the ways in which computers control our cash. "I think most of our customers realize that in modern banking we make extensive use of computers. They see that the codes on their cheques are printed in a special way so that they can be read by a computer-computers only seem to like rather square figures. And when they call in at the bank to find out the balance of their accounts, the clerk no longer shows them a big book with band-written entries. Instead he goes and gets a print-out from the computer which records all the details of cash or cheques paid into or drawn out of customers' accounts. The day may soon come when we no longer need to carry cash around with us, or even a cheque book. The computer where we work will tell our bank computer how much our salary or wages are—and the government computer how much tax we should pay! Then when we go shopping we will just show a special card at the check-out point. The code on the card will be fed into the shop computer, which will check with the bank computer that there is enough money in our account to pay for the goods we want, and that the card has not been stolen. If all is well, the codes from the different items will be fed into the computer and the sum owing will be drawn from our account, but only 'on computer'. No money will ever change hands. Computerized shopping, like computerized banking, will be quick, safe and convenient."

Computers and our Health

Nurse Penny Atkins works in a large, modern hospital.

"We use computers a lot in medicine nowadays. For instance, at the hospital where I work we make patients' appointments through a computer, which saves a lot of time. So does keeping patients' records on a computer. It also saves space because you can get so much more information on to a piece of computer tape than a piece of paper. Another advantage is that anyone who wants information on a patient can get it quickly, or even at the same time as someone else.

You just dial the computer. In the past a doctor might take a patient's records away to his room and keep them for weeks, which could make things difficult for the rest of us! Actually, computers can often do a doctor's work better than a human being can. Computers don't suffer from lack of sleep, so they don't miss important points. And because they never forget anything they've ever been told they're often better at working out what's wrong with a patient, or the best treatment to give him. Some people even think we should all have regular computer checks on our health and then we would ha able to cure most diseases in the early stages. We'd all spend less time in hospital, so the future would be better for us overworked nurses!"

Computers Catch Criminals

Chief Inspector Harston talked about ways

A．Y

B．N

C．NG