They fear that rather than ushering mankind into a techno-utopia of paperless offices and clean, eco-friendly, endlessly flexible, virtual communication, it threatens to cast future generations into what Connell describes as a “digital dark age”.
“It all seems very attractive – scanning documents, taking pictures, putting them into the computer for safekeeping, allowing us to throw away hard copies and to save space.” Indeed, it is the most dramatic record-keeping revolution since the invention of printing.
“But what happens some time later,” asks Connell, “when we discover that we no longer have the machines, the programs – the hardware, the software – the know-how, to access all that computer-based, digital material?”