Competing With Machines

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There are still many people around who resist using a computer. The fear of technology and the resistance to the change it brings is not new.

In 19th century England, Ned Ludd, a famous English malcontent, felt so threatened by machines that he destroyed a stocking knitting machine at the factory where he worked. People who followed his example became known as Luddites.

One of the reasons for some of the modern day antipathy to machines may be the realization that in many ways the machine can perform much better than we can. For example, we can only hear between 20 and 20,000 cycles per second, but a machine can respond to frequencies from one to one million cycles per second. We can only see colours in a limited region from red to violet, but machines can respond to everything from X-rays to long radio waves. We can only survive close to atmospheric pressure, but machines can operate in a vacuum or a hundred thousand atmospheres. We last less than a hundred years, where as machines can operate for up to a thousand years often in extreme conditions.

So where do we have the edge on machines? Well: we’re versatile; we have automatic repair systems built into the body. Moreover, machine production requires a factory, but for us, reproduction is usually fairly easy!

So next time you feel threatened by a machine, remember Ned, and take it easy.