B E Y O N D   B E L I E F

                   By James G. Johnston

Well there I was browsing through Red Herring when I was suddenly
brought back to reality by the following comment on my last
article (Deja Vu, Red Herring 12).

@~Jim's articles were published in SynTax after Red Herring - Sue

"...  I had to laugh when I read Jim Johnston's article "Deja Vu"
when giving outrageous computer specifications, he mentioned
having to have a 1000K hard disc. Wow! I thought, such power, a
megabyte hard disc, how can you improve on that?

Despair crowded in on my tender little world as once again I found
myself in that frustrating situation of being 'NOT BELIEVED'. This
has been a constant problem all my life and I had hoped when I
retired that I had, at last, laid it to rest.

Let me explain what I mean. As a young lad of the tender age of
eight years, I went, one Friday evening, to the township of Leven
(some two miles from home). There was a circus pitched on waste
ground near the beach. I had no money for a ticket but on offering
to help, I was told that if I filled two sacks of rubbish I would
get a ticket for the Saturday morning show. I set to work and
managed to complete the required amount. I was given my free
ticket and also asked if I wanted see the animals. I of course
said 'yes' and was allowed into the animal training and housing
area. There to my amazement were three brown bears practising
their act.  When they finished, the trainer handed each bear a
feeding bottle filled with milk. This they held with their front
paws and sitting on the ground proceeded to drink the milk.  I was
dumbfounded!  I rushed home and told my mother about my ticket and
all about the bears. Mother suggested that they were not real
bears "just men in bearskins" and I was too young to try and
explain that the body functions of bears are not carried out in
private as would happen with men in bearskins. The end result was
inevitable. After a while, not only did my insistence fail to
convince my mother, it annoyed her to the extent that I was
punished for telling lies by having my ticket confiscated and
never saw the circus.

When I was Undermanager at the colliery, part of your duties
required that you arrive at the colliery early enough to meet the
nightshift officials coming off shift and the dayshift coming on
shift.  One morning, as I drove to work, I came on a motor car in
the ditch, on its side. Naturally I stopped and gave what help I
could.  Once the police arrived I left the scene and drove on to
work.  Naturally I was late, in what I thought was a good cause,
but the shift change was over and a note on my desk requested my
presence in the General Manager's office.  I was asked to explain
my failure to attend the morning shift change.  I told the
gentleman about the accident and my action and was politely
informed if I slept in again I should "have the guts to admit it
and not shoot a load of crap". No way was I going to be believed
and left hurt to the core. Next day I presented him with the
evening paper's report on the accident. He informed me that anyone
could claim to have assisted at the accident and since my name was
not mentioned in the report it was all rather airy fairy however
he would give me "the benefit of the doubt" and hoped that I
realized that I "couldn't use that excuse again". Giving me the
benefit of the doubt just meant that he still did not believe me
but could not prove I was lying. Spit! Spit! Spit!

These are just two examples of many that have happened to me and
as I said earlier, my little soul is hurt by disbelief of the
truth.  So to put the record straight and get Jim to be friendlier
to my bruised ego, here goes.
Taken from Atari ST Review - issue 18 - October  1993.

Advert Page 9.
System Solutions, Windsor and London offer :-
Falcon SCSI HARD DRIVES. Ideal for hard disk recording
1000Mb, 10ms, 5 yr. warranty - œ1199

Advert Page 32.
Gasteiner, London offer :-
Falcon 030 External Hard Drive
1.2 Gigabyte + SCSI II Casing - œ999.00 + VAT

Advert Page 89.
Drives, London offer :-
1.1 Gb Digital (5 year warranty) - œ1199

The specification for the Falcon allow up to 14 Mb of RAM and will
display 65536 colours from a palette of 262144 at 768 by 480 DPI
resolution. I have no doubt that the present top of the range PCs
can exceed the above. I just haven't the will to look the
specifications up as they will probably not be believed!!

For the record, I would like to move away from our 'small'
computers and give the following examples of commercial computer
power.  A modern aircraft flying, say, London to Singapore (a
seventeen and one half hour flight) is only manually controlled
during the actual take off (i.e. for some 10 to 20 minutes). For
the rest of the flight the aircraft is totally under the control
of the on board computer, in auto-pilot mode.  This can include
the landing, with the computer interacting with the airport
Instrument Landing System (itself a computer).  This on board
computer is also controlling all the other functions of the
aircraft, monitoring engine performance, answering signal beacons,
etc, etc. Right down to items like cabin environment and video
operation, as well as constantly updating the flight recorder
(Black Box). The only human problem to be found in the system is
"The Human Boredom Syndrome". That's the one that makes you switch
switches and push buttons that you should not. It can also make
you fall asleep when you should be awake and watching. To this
end, due to the flight length, there are two complete air crews on
board. The captain and his crew take the aircraft up, switch to
auto pilot and take the first 4 hours watch then he beds down. The
second officer and his crew are then on duty watch for the next 8
hours. The captain and his crew then take over for the final part
of the journey. In fact the only reason they appear to be with the
plane is to reassure the passengers, who might not like being
piloted completely by computer.

In most of our large stores, the tills/checkouts are computer
outstations.  As the barcode is read it prints the item name and
cost on your till receipt.  However that's not all it does
immediately. It also deducts the item from the 'Stock Held' file,
updates the re-order file, updates the cash intake file, etc, etc.
All this information is subsequently (probably each night)
downloaded, by modem, to the Head Office Computer for use in the
various departments. Supply Stores, Accounting, Statistics, Sale
Trends, Customer Services, etc. all need this information and
without it the company cannot operate. That is "Without Its
Computer"!!

Many of these stores also have a computer link to the credit card
centres.  Passing your card through a reader gives direct access
and the debit will be approved immediately or a code will be given
indicating why the credit is refused (overspent, under paid card
bill, etc.) and the assistant will be able to give you this
information. Of course, if the transaction is approved then the
your friendly credit card computer will immediately debit your
account with the amount, so don't use the card the same day as
you put money in. The humans in the bank can take up to three days
to process your money in. The computer can take it out in
milli-seconds - if not quicker.

Finally a futuristic one.  Some years ago I was involved in the
development of a signal device which would cut off electrical
operating power to industrial plant if the wearer moved towards a
danger zone.  Where mineral crushers, mechanical stowers, chain
bunkers, etc.  were in use, the normal safety precaution was for
the person entering the danger zone to shut off the power using a
laid down procedure but this system was subject to 'human
failure'. The 'pod' we developed automatically shut off the power
and maintained it in that state of isolation until the wearer left
the danger area. The scientist who drew up and developed the pod
informed me that this would be the normal system in the future for
identification and control of human affairs. The pod would be
inserted under your skin and on being scanned would positively
identify you. This would be used by your bank, timekeeping at work
and would be used by the police as identification for a search of
their records.

Well I am still waiting for it to happen!! However, my Siamese cat
has just been fitted with an 'Identichip'. This has been inserted
under the skin at the back of her neck. Should she lose herself
and be taken to a vet or cat home with a reader, she can be
scanned and the coded number will produce details of her, her
owner and her vet.  Also, the development of 'genetic
fingerprints' means that a computer which could scan genetic data
could identify any of your possessions.  The full implications of
this needs careful examination. By using this method of positive
identification we could rapidly reach a situation of policing by
spot identity check and identification of criminal and/or victim
by examination of objects for genetic fingerprints.  Let me
conclude by saying that the same chip as used in the cat's case
with a code of your genetic print on it, is perfectly possible
now.  The future, however, lies in direct scanning of your genetic
data by computer as you enter the bank etc. with all the
restrictions on human rights that will entail.

Big Brother is NOT watching you!! But his computer is doing it
for him.

                              - o -