Commentsby
Bob Brandon....
CPU
4 U
May
10, 2000
There was nothing unusual to draw your attention...this anonymous castoff
was disguised as trash. It's actually a complex bundle of toxic chemicals,
heavy metals and poisons just waiting to escape and foul the environment.
A highly poisonous combination of lead, mercury, cadmium, and who knows
what else.
It would make any terrorist green with envy...not only will it make
innocent people sick now, but it will affect future generations with mutation
and disfigurement and death. The perfect weapon of mass destruction. They've
been cleverly distributed throughout our society, and now we're all surrounded.
Every year, tens of millions of computers are rendered useless by cheaper,
faster, vastly better technology. Hey, it's not our fault that we're terrified
of being left behind. I was a Windows 3.11 holdout until finally succumbing
to the dazzling charms of 98. It's a difficult realization that the expensive
computer I had just bought 18 months before was simply too old and slow.
A veritable Model-T.
So now I'm using a much newer obsolete computer, a very expensive one
that's only half the machine of today's bargain brand cheapies. So I can't
blame people for wanting the best science when it costs less than ever.
As a result, in the next three years, it's estimated 315 million systems
will become hopelessly out of fashion. Mountains of monitors, cpu's and
other hardware, brimming with poisonous substances that will leach into
our soil and water.
There are lots of new companies that recycle the plastic into asphalt,
or even new computers, but the sheer numbers easily overwhelm their capacities.
There are two things we can do to help ease the flood. First, why not donate
the used units to third world countries?
We don't care that they don't work as well as our's, they're slower,
and have smaller harddrives. Actually, secretly we're glad. But think about
the vast change the internet, even at 9,600 kbs, could bring to the impoverished
masses in distant, ignorant parts of the world.
Soon, if we all pitch in and help, a poor starving Ethopian can surf
the net and visit Ebay. Maybe we could set up some cyber cafes for refugees
whose entire families have been wiped out by genocide.
Maybe the mind of some young man in the Philipines could be lured away
from street crime and into the wonderful world of computer virus research.
And the best part about shipping them all our old pc's is that it ends
our disposal problem.
They don't care if the chemicals poison their land, they're too busy
just trying to stay alive. Once again, you can be proud free enterprise
has found a solution to one of mankind's greatest problems. Out of sight,
out of mind. What's not to love?
Choice number 2: Sell it at a yard sale. |
