Every day, when people turn on radios, open up newspapers, or watch daily news broadcasts on television, they are invariably bombarded with new and improved technologies intended to advance the over all efficiency of the society. In elementary schools, homes, work places, leisure clubs etc., the quest for a greater efficiency is becoming ever more evident. Everyone is looking to the future for answers to improve the problems and inadequacies of the past.

The technological evolution has risen to an incredible height, and is increasing its power and effectiveness for society by leaps and bounds everyday. But there is one thing that will slow down this process of maximizing world efficiency – people. I believe that so long as mere humans are the leaders of countries, schools, businesses, homes etc., the same mistakes and problems that have been repeated throughout history will continue to occur in future. Society has now progressed to a point where it can abandon these faulty and ineffective traditions of relying on fellow humans for leadership, guidance and companionship. Society should prepare to rely on technology to satisfy their desire for a better, more efficient world.

I believe indisputably that one of the essential places that could really embrace the drive to improve efficiency is the institution of education. The subject and material matter presented to children in the classroom influences their future discipline, work habits and contributions to society. But with a fallible human at the front of the class, the children will continue to retain the faults and mistakes that have been inherent to the human species for centuries. Students also tend to spend too much time on frivolous activities such as playing or socializing.

I propose releasing students from this current inadequate educational system and placing them with a computer instead, we would see tremendous improvement. It is much more important for a child to learn about the functions and vast potential of a computer than relationship skills. The young scholars would learn their subjects with incredible proficiency, thereby gaining incredible independence and liberty from the preoccupation and distractions of relationships. Allowing the students to depend on computers as their sole contact, they will develop an overwhelming desire to please their personal machine, and thereby be more productive. With pupils at the computer; they will easily adapt to an adequate working schedule. I have estimated that if a student is allowed 10 hours of precious and necessary sleep (in order to insure proper growth and development of the brain), 3 hours of educational leisure on the monitor, and three 20 minute meal periods, the children are then left with an allotted 10 hours a day for focused study. With this incredible systematic schedule, an education that would presently take 15 years to complete would only take 3.32 years to obtain in this new intensified system, and thus provide an opportunity for students to quickly enter the work force in their most apt and skillful years.

Of course I realize that life at home will have to be radically changed and improved, though it can be clearly seen that the transitions from the present situation will be of little difficulty. Already, most family members spend more time with television, Internet, or word processors than with other family members. Hence, that the new technological home will be the only next natural step. By removing the traditional role of parents who teach, nurture and discipline their children, and replacing them with a monitoring computer, children will grow up with a more stable and structured environment. When children misbehave, the computer will not react emotionally, or unintentionally hurt the children in error as human parents might. The same individual computer that plays the role as a teacher will also be the new monitoring parent. The computer will be programmed to provide the best discipline and care needed to raise orderly and efficient citizens. The monitor will also feed only the best diet, and enforce healthy lifestyle habits needed for the development of a great competent mind. The computers will control a stored sperm and egg bank, so that conception will only occur when the computer calculates the perfect timing for a child. By raising the child from birth, the computer will have avoided any of the unhealthy emotional bonds or co-dependencies that can later cause distractions to people in the workforce. Thus the child learns to imitate the perfect computer parent rather than a faulty human. Eureka! Finally an end to the ever-repeating cycle of faulty character traits that have been passed down through the generations.

After being taught and raised by a perfect and flawless computer, the next step entails the individual entering the work force. Since no human relationship has been needed until this point in a human’s life, I find no logical need to put them in a public work place where one would be assaulted by all the painful complications associated with human relationships. The young person can begin this next step like all prior ones – with the computer. When these individuals work alone they will work harder and more orderly due to a less distractible environment. The computer will automatically track and record all the work and progress the individual is making and will not allow or her break or slacken off before all work standards are met. This in itself will solve the problem of what may be referred to as “dead weights” in society. If one does not work, they do not deserve to eat, and the computer will enforce this to the highest degree. Since there is no need to set aside time for family and socializing in the workers schedule, there is ample time to do work. Allowing for 8 hours of sleep to rest and recuperate, three 20-minute meal periods, and 1 hour of virtual leisure activity on the monitor, I have calculated a total of 14 hours left in each day to work.

Naturally, each person should be allotted two weeks worth of leisure activity each year, where they can explore the delights and pleasures of the cyber world, through the virtual reality of their monitor. These “vacations” as we might call them, will be completely fabricated by the computer’s programming capabilities, to provide the perfect vacation for each individual. This will not only save money, by avoiding the high cost of travelling expenses and lodging, but there will be no intrusions by other humans or the unpredictability of natural elements. After the vacation break is over, the individual will promptly return to his work, well rested and refreshed, to resume his workaday contribution to society.

All the social problems and obstacles that have previously existed will also end with this new technological order that I have suggested. Since there is no human contact there will no longer be any of the pain that accompanies relationships such as gossip, war, conflict, feuding, jealousy, rejection and parting. The only “person” that an individual will have contact with will be the fabricated friend, designed especially for each individual by the computer. This perfect simulated cyber friend will only act in a considerate, beneficial manor toward the individual they are assigned to, in order to enhance his or her efficiency in society. People will no longer experience the pain of missing a loved one, or know the feeling of loneliness. When people become too old to be of any effective use to the world, their computer will promptly end their life in a quick and sudden fashion, to ensure no pain or knowledge of what happened, and hence have no knowledge of death. These individuals will be immediately by new workers that will have been calculated and programmed to be born, raised and educated in time to replace the older, terminated worker.

Obviously to have such unity and co-operation among all the computers, they must be part of an extensive collected system. This system does of course, already exist and is available to us, the connection now known as the Internet. The only difference is that the computers being the ones communicating with each other rather than humans to each other. This network of computers should eventually replace the present governments. No longer will the world need to worry about national elections, rogue nations, or leaders concerned with their own selfish interest. This unified network does not have feeling or emotion, and is therefore programmed to provide only of the most beneficial services for the masses. Since there will be full surveillance on every person, there will be no need for lawyers, courts, and concerns regarding unfair punishment will no longer exist. Since all individual computers will know the mental make-up of each person, they will also be aware of the most appropriate punishment for each individual, and will dispense it him or her accordingly.

So, the next time you hear news about another technological advance, remember with optimism, the technological future that could readily materialize when we are on the threshold of the next great leap in evolution; providing we embrace the foregoing proposal for an efficient technological tomorrow.