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C00002 00002	THE SOCIAL BENEFITS OF NEW TECHNOLOGY
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THE SOCIAL BENEFITS OF NEW TECHNOLOGY


	This is a summary of the social benefits that can be
achieved by taking the opportunities described in the previous
chapters.

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#. The labor of housework can be reduced to the point where
both parties to a marriage can hold genuine full time jobs
and not feel strain even if they are not very energetic.

#. Everyone can have full access to all the information available
to humanity.

#. Any aspect of government operation at any level can be scrutinized
by any interested citizen.

#. Everyone can have sabbatical years and two months vacation each year.

#. People can live where they want and work where they want.

#. Violent crime and burglary can be stamped out.  Every place can
be made acceptably safe.

#. The scope of creation of an individual can be enhanced.  A single
person can be made able to create a skyscraper, a computer, or
an airplane.

	The skeptic asks whether this will make people any happier
(or perhaps he puts it "less unhappy") than they are today.  My
answer is "somewhat happier".  However, I will claim that people
will migrate from areas that don't have the facilities I advocate
to areas that do, and that people will use the new facilities.
Of course, this will not satisfy someone who considers himself
a better judge of other people's welfare than they are.  It also
won't satisfy someone who expects society to educate him for
a meaningful career - the other side of the previous coin.

	I rest with the slogan that each man is the most appropriate
judge of his own welfare.