If you are a regular listener to these Heart and Home talks, you know in advance that I am very much anti-punchcards, computers, Univac, or, for that matter, any effort to reduce human beings to numbers. That is why I took particular delight in an article I read recently in the newspaper pertaining to the failure of ZIP Codes. Now for those who do not know what the ZIP Code is, let me explain. The ZIP Code has been devised by the US Postal Service to speed up mail delivery, by eliminating names and addresses, and using Numbers instead. So far, the system has been a bust. For example, a St. Louis man mailed two letters to a friend in Hawaii. One letter bore the man's name and address. The other letter bore the men's ZIP Code number. Both arrived on the same day. The man in Hawaii returned two letters under the same circumstances and they two arrived at their destination on the same day, proving, I hope, that the ZIP Code did nothing to speed up delivery.
Perhaps you are indifferent to being reduced to a number. I am not, and I sincerely wish there were more like me. I cannot view the frightening takeover by the computer without the darkest forebodings. We are fast approaching the time when our every move will be controlled by the machine. Even now, these electronic monsters are being used to select two people who are ostensibly, ideally suited for marriage. I feel sure that unless more people rebel, will arrive at a time when a machine will tell us what is the right thing to wear, to eat, to drink, to say, to think, and to do. People are individuals. Each one unique. Each has his own contribution to make to the vast tapestry of life. The time has come when we must unite, arise and rebel against any tendency to word government by computer. Tomorrow, you too may be X4785643
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