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.CB COMPUTER AIDS TO IMPROVING POLITICS
.CB COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY AND POLITICAL LIFE
.CB COMPUTERS AND ACCESS TO POLITICAL INFORMATION
.cb COMPUTERS AND THE RIGHT OF REPLY


	Computer technology has reached the point where it is feasible
for each family to have a computer terminal that could access all the
world's printed information.  The cost would is about that of a television
set.  Such terminals have many applications, but I want to concentrate
attention on one, because it has great potentiality for improving political
life.  People will have many reasons for buying the terminals, but this
is reason enough why every person or institution in a position to help
should encourage the development.

	The cost of storing every book, magazine or newspaper that has
ever been published in a computer file accessible in less than a second
from anywhere in the country is now less than the cost of storing the same
information on library shelves.  Except for safety and transmission costs,
there need be only one complete library in the world.
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.begin verbatim
John McCarthy
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Computer Science Department
Stanford University
Stanford, California 94305

ARPANET: MCCARTHY@SU-AI
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