63 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
63 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
The Faceless Computer
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By: Tony Curro
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We are in the electronic age. Everything, from automatic teller
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machines, to voice mail, to information about your credit card state-
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ment, have gone computer. Using a touch-tone phone you can talk to
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electronic people all day long. I have. At times they were more
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pleasant than their human counterparts.
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Calling a Bulletin Board, we have both of the above combined. We
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talk to people electronically, but they are also human. Leaving a
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message to ALL, can get comments from a varied group of people; from a
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doctor, lawyer, baker, candlestick maker, and maybe even an Indian
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chief. These people, in most cases, are just names to us. Some we can
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distingush by name as being male or female. Others, like say Pat, we
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cannot. This is what makes BBSs'ing fun for me. I never know who will
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answer a message I leave. I also do not know from what walk of life this
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individual comes from. This is fine with me. I do not wish to delve
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into a person's private life. Whatever religon they are, their sexual
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preferences, their color, their nationality, doesn't mean anything to
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me. I talk to people on the boards, as I do in life, as human beings.
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Not as people who are Black, or Yellow, or Red, or Gay or Jewish, etc.
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etc. I have no room for this. I have come across very few people that I
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would not want to talk to. I wish I could meet everyone I have ever
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talked to. That is very interesting. I once did get such a chance. I
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was talking to an individual on a BBS for a while. Left messages back
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and forth. One day I had the opportunity to meet him. I was bowled
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over. He was this little person of about 12-years-old. He wrote, and
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even in person spoke like a mature young man. He is now attending
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Columbia University.
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There are many users who go into the 'special' conferences on BBSs,
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and do have problems. One of the hottest conferences I think would be a
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Religion conference. I will NOT discuss my religious or political
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beliefs with anyone. This can be a hot-bed, of which there usually is
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no winner. Two or more people argue about their religion or their
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candidate as the only TRUE one. It also leads to arguments, and name
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calling. I don't want to argue or call names, I can just walk down the
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street, and curse the first person I see. I don't do it on the streets,
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and I don't do it on a BBS.
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I call a BBS to relax and enjoy myself. Not to get heartburn. If
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more people called BBSs and talked instead of argued, the world would be
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a better place. Might even end WAR. Then again even that, is computer-
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controlled. Just like everything else. I wonder what this little chip
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is implanted behind my right ear.........#@#$*@^#
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"THE UNIT AT THE KEYBOARD HAD A MALFUNCTION!!"
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Copyright (c) 1992 by Tony Curro. All rights reserved
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NOTE: Tony Curro is the creator of ComputerTalk Magazine.
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"ComputerTalk Magazine is an online magazine dedicated to
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computer users. Started in July 1992 (1st issue). It was
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felt that quite a few people did not buy magazines at
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newstands. And some of the ones who did found them too
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technicaly. So an online one that would review, in fairly
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simple terms, software/hardware they used should fit in
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nicely."
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ComputerTalk Magazine is ReadRoom compatible and available
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for viewing on MoonDog and InfoMat BBSs.
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