On Computers and Networks (Part 1)

The recent, current, and future generations will have been raised on computers from childhood and will have a keen instinctive ability for both the expressiveness and the limitations of digital output, solitary sharing and digestion of massive amounts of data, or information.


What are some of the ethical consequences of whole new generations born into a world of completely new ways to communicate? Some of the many possibilities: 

• A computer's ability to magnify the effects of our actions. (Instant feedback/gratification)
• The level of precision that computers require to operate properly. 
• The alienation they engender by separating the actor from the effect. 
• The unwarranted credibility given to computer output simply because it came from a computer.(low level of bias upon receiving information from sources) 
• The ability of the computer to manipulate information. (At the low end, cheating; high end, hacking government grids and felony level stealing of money, for example)
• Our inability to understand how and why a computer does what it does (The Apple coined phrase "It just works" surely makes it convenient but does little to explain what is going on. Unlike watching TV or listening to radio, basic understanding of core PC functions and basic networking are invaluable) 
• The fact that computers are requiring less and less human intervention to operate. 

Discus...