From: ichudov@algebra.com With the advent of technology, the balance of perceived social needs and government capabilities shifted radically, and it shifted away from the great freedoms of the past. The public perception of freedom now is that freedom is inherently dangerous and is a threat to the public itself. ............................................................ The more advanced the technological creations become, the more potential there is for disaster - in larger measure and in greater speed - and therefore the greater need there is for preparation to deal with the new toys and the consequences when things go wrong. This needed preparation includes the time required for developing concepts regarding our human nature and our place in the artificial "man-made" world, about "who is in control around here" - us or the machines - and what purposes - or whose purposes - the machines serve. But then there's always a confusion and many battles over who will serve whose purposes, not only in regard of machines, but of governments and societies. Technology doesn't communicate automatically any particular message. Anyone can interpret its existence in any way it pleases them to interpret it. If those who use these toys and tools every day do not stop to identify what they are doing, and why, and who is making the decisions in their life; if they don't make conscious choices about their activities and the means they use to accomplish these, it is not the technology which is to blame for the humans' default on thinking. .. Blanc