Eventually computers will allow people to work from home.

Is
this desirable ?

The answer is that computers already allow some people to work from home, though clearly this
cannot apply to more than a limited number of people and a limited number of occupations. As
to whether this is desirable, the answer is philosophical as well as practical.

Computers, both analog and digital, have developed out of all recognition since the Second
World War, when they were large, mechanical, and limited in use. They were then used in
conjunction with radar for missile guidance and also for code breaking and a small range of
mathematical functions. Most of those functions are now available in a child's pocket calculator.
The application of electronics in the 50s followed by the use of the silicon chip and pre-printed
circuits widened the computer's function out of all recognition, permitting a myriad series of
voltage controls. The computer today is powerful, compact and relatively small. It combines
readily with word-processing, faxing, and the electronic creation of screen graphics, which can
be modified either by keyboard control or by electronic pen. The analog computer rapidly solves
differential equations for civil and mechanical engineering problems. The digital computer with
it's card punching function permits access to data banks, and allows the processing of records
and all the kinds of work connected with bills, orders, wages, VAT etc. The computer today is
integral in the world of business, commerce, design, word-processing and industry in general.
Any organization from the small business upwards keeps a computer to which remote terminals
may be linked, giving access at a distance to all it's functions and information.

The need for all white-collar workers to do a nine-to-five job in the office has disappeared.
Today it is obviously possible for all workers down to lower-management level to work from
home, and as computers continue to develop it is likely that firms will find it convenient to let an
increasing number do so. Whether this is a desirable change is a moot point.

Some visionaries anticipate the day when computers, in combination with robotry, will totally
eliminate the need for work as we know it. This may theoretically become possible, though in
any event computers could never quite eliminate the need for maintenance groups. To most of
us, however, such a prospect would be appalling. Leisure only has value by reason or it's contrast
with work, and the instinct to work is a built-in part of the human makeup. The past millenia
have not adjusted our genes in this direction for nothing.

A more likely scenario is that a much higher proportion of workers will eventually be able to
operate from home. Of course, many people have always done so. The writer, the painter, the
sculptor either work in the study or in an adjacent studio. Even the professional musician
practices at home. Some of these are reclusive by nature, others not.

The majority of people are naturally gregarious. To produce their best they need both the
company of others, and the 'atmosphere' of work. There is an instinct to go out to the job, and
with all save workaholics. to be able to draw a clear line between work and leisure. The benefits
of doing so are obvious. Easy association with others is confidence building. Ideas improve and
extend as they are exchanged. You cannot get the 'feel' of a firm or institution at long range. If
you have any responsibility at all you need to be in personal touch with managers and directors,
not for ever using the telephone or the fax machine. And what about the social side, the friends
made, the office party, the human element ?

To work in public demands a certain standard of dress and personal care. It would need more
self-discipline than many people have to keep up the same standards at home. Self-discipline and
the observance of good routines may come easily to some, but not all.

The reality of today's work-pattern is that when children are of school age wives also take on
paid employment. Perhaps the wife also would have a computer terminal and all the
paraphernalia of a modern office? Would they share facilities or duplicate equipment? How
many flats and small houses have even one room which could be turned into an office? Who
would make the coffee, cook the meals, collect the children, do the shopping and the housework?
One can foresee many sources of domestic discord!

Computers may change. Human nature does not. As a tool, the computer is vulnerable to the
enemy, industrial or personal. Hackers can wipe out records unless there is duplicated soft-ware
backup kept under lock and key. Hackers can introduce a virus.

The more one considers the implications of working from home the less desirable the project
seems to be.