One of several ongoing discussions I have with God is whether many of the advances in technology are the result of his influence or that of Satan. It does seem to me humankind would be better off without gunpowder or nuclear weapons. “Get a horse” has long passed, and few any longer say “If God had meant us to fly he would have given us wings.” Still, though not of an entirely Luddite persuasion I do have cause to wonder about some of the improvements of a technological age. But I remind myself I came along before there was a TV in homes, let alone a computer.

Notwithstanding their enemies in “Fahrenheit 451,” most of us know that even books can be dangerous; “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” for example. But is the forsaking of books and literacy in favor of computers any less dangerous? I think not. By now, the worldwide dependence on computers leaves many of us with the opinion we are vulnerable to things like being unable to account for nuclear weapons or even the accidental launching of nuclear missiles by any nation relying on computers for such things. And then there is the very real possibility of our enemies causing such computer damage as to paralyze America.

At my age, time flies whether you are having a good time or not. It seems the weeks and months now fly by and turn into years without any real perception of the time having passed. But there is no denying the “computer age” that has had such a profoundly marked influence on the passing of the years.

One thing that has not changed with the advent of computers is the hypocritical pretense of sincerity on the part of politicians that is infamously proverbial, and has been around as long as there has been politicians. I recall reading many years ago in the old Saturday Evening Post of one such incident in which the politico was campaigning. He recognized a man in the crowd, and while vigorously shaking his hand asked him in an unctuous voice, “And how is your dear mother doing?” The man replied, “Oh, she’s still dead.”

However, at least in this case there were human beings involved irregardless the human frailties. What with the computer age this is becoming ever less the case, but despite the increasing reliance on computers I do not anticipate a computer generated Rembrandt, Sinclair Lewis or Harper Lee. Nor have they made politicians any more sincere than the one in that old Saturday Evening Post jibe.

Tim Russert’s interview some time ago with David McCullough having to do with David’s book “1776” was one of the best of such interviews I have watched. But the painful fact brought glaringly and painfully to the fore during the interview is something of which as a teacher of many years experience I am too well aware— the fact that Americans have become illiterate when it comes to our history as a nation; and the universities long ago ceased to emphasize the importance of the Bible to our history as a nation. The omission of this alone accounts for much historical illiteracy among college graduates. Long ago the teaching of American History in our universities and their product schools fell to the wayside; as has the teaching of great literature in our schools; and no amount of “computer literacy” will compensate for this monumental loss to our young people especially. And it is in this I see the real danger such a loss poses to America.

There were several, large old pines on our mining claim. As a boy I was able to build a platform in the branches of one of these not far from our cabin. Thither I would resort to do my schoolwork on occasion, and in addition to the usual math, history, and English I would often take some books for pleasure like a National Geographic or a novel.

Sitting on the planks in the branches of the old tree, I would look out to the dun-colored, sere hills to the east, and moving my eyes north to north-westward to the majestic, forested and granite grandeur of the mountains I was master of all I surveyed from my aerie. What child could help but imagine all things were possible in such surroundings? But it took good books and good literature in conjunction with such grandeur of my surroundings to fire my imagination. Sadly, few even my age had such an advantage of environment I enjoyed.

Computers were in their infancy many years ago when I read a SciFi story in which a person got caught up in a relatively innocuous problem. But through having to deal with computers in attempts to resolve the problem, it escalated to his being condemned to death for a capital crime by the government despite the fact the fellow never was able to contact a living human being in the process! There would appear to have been a degree of prescience on the part of the writer of this story so many years ago as we face interminable telephone menus, especially for government agencies, our finally despairing of contacting a living human being.

An editor for The Bakersfield Californian published a column calling attention to the aggravation of receiving all kinds of material from banks, credit card companies, government agencies that continue to send out their computer generated propaganda long after a loved one is deceased. Granted it is left to the living to inform the appropriate parties that the loved one to whom all of this computer generated junk is addressed has passed on. But this editor pointed out the extreme difficulty one faces in stemming this flood of unwanted and unneeded computer generated material that continues coming despite efforts to stem the flood. Among the difficulties in attempts to inform the various parties and agencies involved of a loved one’s passing are those interminable mindless, disembodied telephone menus that so frustrate any hope of talking to a real, live and breathing human being.

Unexpectedly I find myself the remaining patriarch with all the folks now gone. I hope I have “cleaned up” after myself, and no one will suffer any “clutter” after my demise. We oldsters owe that to those we leave behind. But as to those ongoing computer generated messages from the various disinterested, disembodied entities continuing to haunt the living, beyond the aggravation of systems dedicated to taking our money dead or alive I fear our government agencies operate in much the same way. And like the film Fail-Safe when things become so complicated and complex relying on computers removing living, breathing, human beings from the system, when you have no one to hold personally accountable as with government throughout you have a system virtually destined to break down. And with so much nuclear saber rattling around the world this lack of personal accountability does not bode well for our survival.

It is good to put a human face on these systems, and to demand accountability. However, with those in government as with business motivated by greed and avarice, their lust for power, Emerson was tragically correct in pointing out the study of Shakespeare will not produce a Shakespeare, and the virtuous whether Socrates, Jesus, or Washington have left no “class” and each generation must find its own way. And I fear for this generation that has no leader of virtue to lead the way, and is moreover forced to rely on computers.

“The pen is mightier than the sword” has a history of proving correct. However, when the pen is forced to rely on computers there is room for much mischief. And whether of God or Satan, whether of neither, the world has become far more dangerous due in large part to computers. And so, my discussions with God on the matter will continue despite the fact we cannot go back any more than anyone can change the course of events set in motion by those like Bush. But in far too many ways the electronic age has built an electronic house of cards, one that is susceptible to a vagrant breeze that may cause the whole thing to collapse catastrophically.