Excerpt from Military Chaplains' Review, Vol. 12: "Computers, Telecommunications, and Ministry"; Da Pam 165-137, Spring, 1983 In the not too distant future using a computer will be as easy as it is traveling today with an organized tour group. With a travel group some one else learns about hotels and local transportation, the most interest ing sights to see and how to get there. The traveler receives all the benefits of traveling without needing to do extensive research, planning or organizing. One way this might happen in the future is that computer equip ment (called hardware) will be purchased and carried to where it will be used. There it will be plugged in to electricity and connected to a telephone jack'. When the computer is turned on for the first time, it will automatically dial a telephone number and connect itself to a large com puter in a distant city. The screen of the computer will display alist of possible tasks and ask the operator to define what the new system will be used for. For example, the operator might identify mailing lists as one job of the new system. The computer would then ask how large the mail ing list will be and whether additional information will be kept about each person on the list. After the use of the computer has been defined, the large com puter in the distant city will organize a set of instructions (called soft ware) for the system and send them over the telephone line to be stored in the new system. In a matter of a few minutes the new computer system will be ready to be used. The Operator will need to know nothing about how a computer works, what it is capable of doing or not doing, or what the various components are. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.