The Computer Tool
No, I’m not talking about some special implement you can use on your computer – although that could be a fun topic – ‘What tool would you like to use on your computer?’ It could be sub-titled, ‘Can you lift a seven pound sledgehammer?’
Nor am I talking about the local guy you know who is a computer nut that can’t tie his shoelaces or converse in anything except ‘0’s and ‘1’s.
Above all else, if theirs is one definition of a computer, it is that it’s a tool. It is probably the best tool we’ve ever made, up there in effect on Man with fire and the wheel, but way above them in speed of impact on society. The computer has changed the way we work, the way we play, the way we find out things and the way we entertain ourselves, and it has done it in thirty years.
Tool:
1. an implement, esp. one held in the hand, as a hammer, saw, or file, for performing or facilitating mechanical operations
2. anything used as a means of accomplishing a task or purpose
Tools are things we use, things supposedly invented to make our life easier, or to enable us to do things we are unable to do alone. But when the personal computer came along, it was a tool that didn’t really have a use. Sure it was a nice thing for the original tech-heads – they could play and get all kinds of interesting effects – but for most people they were yet another reason to avoid such people.
So, how do you use your computer? What is the main function you perform with this wondrous tool?
Leave a Reply