Real Issues

Real Issues

The world is now known as a global village constantly evolving in the chain of science and technology. Most economic theories have ignored the effect of computers and technology on the world. As a matter of fact, since the inception of computers, the world of work has been completely revolutionized. Different fields of occupations have greatly benefited from the invention of computers and technology. Job opportunities and company earnings have skyrocketed due to higher productivity with the aid of computers and technology. The growth of any economy feeds primarily in information and new creations which is actually provided by computers and technology. Computers and technology have changed the course of history and will continue to do so. (Terrell, 1996)

Apart from increasing job opportunities in already existing jobs, computers and technology have created new jobs and brought more flexibility into job selections. New jobs like webmasters, data miners, cyber counselors, computer programmers, technicians and data analysts have arisen creating millions of job opportunities for those studying in computer-related fields and other fields. The constant growing demand for computer and technology professionals increased by the clock and raised the value of these jobs dramatically. As a result, not only were the number of available jobs affected, but also the earnings were also influenced. According to a survey during May 2004, the median annual earnings of computer and information scientists were as high as $85,190 which is a large multiple of the figures in previous decades. (U.S. Department of Labor, 2006)

In a nutshell, computers and technology have not only created several job opportunities in my chosen field of study but have also raised the level of salaries in those jobs. Experts predict that in the future, working with computers will become as natural as working with humans and hence colleagues from all over the globe can work together as if they were in the same office. Hypotheses also suggest that computer work in the future would become more speech-oriented with the development of computers and technology.

Effect of Computers and Technology in the Past

Before the 1950's, scientists and mathematicians were able to innovate new forms of technology that would make the world of work easier. However, they faced a lot of challenges which prevented the progress of their research. Initially, computers were as huge as bedrooms and cost a lot more than mansions in the Beverly Hills. Manufacturing such computers on a large scale would be a depressing financial struggle. With the advent of the first microchip by Nobel Prize winner Jack Kilby in 1958, the world of computers and technology started to have its true impact on our world. With unbearable production costs and sizes out of the way, the road to an evolutionary chain of technology was paved for subsequent scientists. Robert Noyce, co-founder Intel, furthered the microchip with Kilby which formed the foundation of today's microprocessors. Eventually, computers and other electrical gadgets which would make work easier became readily available and cheap for both companies and individuals. (Wilkepedia)

Since then, the upsurge of computers and technology in our global society has remained outstandingly high. This gave birth to the computer science industry which is my field of study. The number of jobs and job descriptions in this field increased over the next few decades. Salaries also skyrocketed on the average. Indeed, the computer science industry is the field of work which was most affected by the revolution of computers and technology.

Effect of Computers and Technology in the future

The mutual assumptions of most experts about the future of computers and technology and their resultant impacts on various aspects of life show that human beings will begin to grow a deeper relationship with computers and other forms of technology.

Termed "natural communication", the new hypothetical interface would involve more of speech, language and natural body motions. This would automatically generate new functions for the computer and other gadgets making them more like human beings. Eventually, new functions for computers and the like create new job descriptions and opportunities in the computer science industry and other related fields of work. This domino effect caused by this new interface of computer-human interaction could also have an effect on human inter-personal interactions and also incorporate the use of computers in fields like psychology and counseling. In effect, this would further catalyze the rate of increase of the value of computer-related jobs especially in the field of biometrics since it involves human biological interactions with computers. (Kurzweil, 1999)

Apart from these effects, the future also holds a very high level of ease of work for us. Productivity would not be the only benefit from the new discoveries in computers and technology. Individual workers would also benefit greatly since workload would be a whole lot less. Complex, stressful, strenuous processes would be transformed into simple maneuverable commands which would make work faster and easier.

The future would not always a positive outlook on computers and technology. In contrast with the "natural communication" hypothesis, things could also become more complex and difficult. Roles in the computer science industry could also become more specialized and limited. Also,