What causes us the most misery and pain... has nothing to do with the sort of information made accessible by computers. The computer and its information cannot answer any of the fundamental questions we need to address to make our lives more meaningful and humane. The computer cannot provide an organizing moral framework. It cannot tell us what questions are worth asking. It cannot provide a means of understanding why we are here or why we fight each other or why decency eludes us so often, especially when we need it the most. The computer is... a magnificent toy that distracts us from facing what we most need to confront — spiritual emptiness, knowledge of ourselves, usable conceptions of the past and future.


Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985)


What causes us the most misery and pain... has nothing to do with the sort of information made accessible by computers. The computer and its...

What causes us the most misery and pain... has nothing to do with the sort of information made accessible by computers. The computer and its...