Enkele aantekeningen betreffende automatie

A review study of the Dutch translation of the German book by F. Pollock, Automation: Materialen zur Beurteilung der okonomischen und sozialen Folgen (Automation: Materials for Estimating Its Economic and Social Consequences, Amsterdam, the Netherlands: 1957). Pollock's book is more than a mere collection of documents; it offers possibilities for various definitions of automation and judgments on it. Automation may be viewed as a completely new phenomenon and as the beginning of a new age of SE development; but it could also be considered a continuation of the mechanization and rationalization processes which preceded it. Its development is traced, with special reference to computers and feedback. Pessimistic and optimistic judgments on its effects are quoted: automation is said to open new areas of leisure for the skilled and intellectual workers; but it also opens up prospects of unemployment for the unskilled. I. Langnas.