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kibwenyesterday at 6:53 PM1 replyview on HN

No. No economy ever had essentially every single major company spending a significant fraction of its budget on hiring auto mechanics. Which is to say, for all the changes the automobile wrought, the role of the computer in industrialized society eclipses it tenfold, a hundredfold, a thousandfold. For an individual in many modern societies, being denied access to a car is already effectively crippling, and the idea of being denied access to computation threatens to be somehow even worse.


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PaulDavisThe1styesterday at 11:40 PM

I would say you need to read some history.

While the role of computers in industrialized society has been substantial, there's still a pretty good argument that the rise of motorized transportation, refridgeration, electricity, the telegram and antibiotics each exceed the impact of computer technology.

In 3-500 years we might have enough perspective on this to really judge it; I'm pretty sure that all we can say right now is "don't know".