The invention of the automobile by Henry Ford in 1903 started a domino effect on society that would change the face of modern civilization as we know it. Within 50 years of its creation, cars were changing from an item of luxury to an item of necessity, and the vast majority of Americans owned one. People were able to travel greater distances in a shorter amount of time thus facilitating travel and communication greatly.

Since then, the next technological explosion came from the computer industry. Computer technology is the fastest advancing field of science in the United States. To put things into perspective Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft, stated, "If the automobile industry was to expand as quickly as the Computer Industry, we would be able to drive to the moon and back ten times on one gallon of gasoline." Since the arrival of the Personal Computer (PC), communication has not only been made fast, its been made instantaneious. Information can now travel from New York to China in a fraction of a second. When comparing the statistics of the automobile industry to that of the computer industry, many interesting questions arise. How will computers change the way our society communicates

In view of these facts, I wonder if these trends are good or bad for society. "The danger of the information age is that while in the short run it may be cheaper to replace workers with technology, in the long run it is potentially self-destructive because there will not be enough purchasing power to grow the economy," M. B. Zuckerman. My feeling is that the trend from unskilled labor too highly technical, skilled labor is a good one! But, political action must be taken to ensure that this societal evolution is beneficial to all of us.

While still far from replacing face to face communication, the internet has created a 'Real Virtuality' where a connection changes the entire world to a digital form and is sent right to your monitor.

Equally natural, is the poisoning and corruption of these media's, to benefit a few. From the 1950's until today, television has been the preferred media. Because it captures the minds of most Americans, it is the preferred method of persuasion by political figures, multinational corporate advertising, and the upper 2% of the elite, who have an interest in controlling public opinion. Newspapers and radio experienced this same history, but are now somewhat obsolete in the science of changing public opinion. Though I do not suspect television to become completely obsolete within the next 20 years, I do see the Internet being used by the same political figures, multinational corporations, and upper 2% elite, for the same purposes. At this time, in the Internet's young history, it is largely unregulated, and can be accessed and changed by any person with a computer and a modem; no license required, and no need for millions of dollars of equipment. But, in reviewing our history, we find that newspaper, radio and television were once unregulated too.

"Back in 1970, a high school diploma could still be a ticket to the middle income bracket, a nice car in the driveway and a house in the suburbs. Today all it gets is a clinker parked on the street, and a dingy apartment in a low rent building," says Time Magazine (Jan 30, 1995 issue). However, in 1970, our government provided our children with a free education, allowing the vast majority of our population to earn a high school diploma. This means that anyone, regardless of family income, could be educated to a level that would allow them a comfortable place in the middle class. Even restrictions upon child labor hours kept children in school, since they are not allowed to work full time while under the age of 18. This government policy was conducive to our economic markets, and allowed our country to prosper from 1950 through 1970.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2938
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)