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When I was in high school, the computing teacher remarked that some people still don't believe that computers have benefited society. His answer to this was th
by ajb 2y ago
When I was in high school, the computing teacher remarked that some people still don't believe that computers have benefited society. His answer to this was that they have nearly eliminated armed robbery, because when people were paid in cash, the payroll was an enormous target. Such heists used to be a commonplace risk, but a couple of generations have grown up without them.
- xelamonster 2y agoWouldn't this have been addressed by paper checks long before direct deposit came into play?
- ajb 2y agoHmm, it's years since I properly thought about this anecdote Yes, in theory you could have done everything with checks. It didn't completely happen though, until after computerisation. In the UK, it turns out that employees had the right to receive pay in cash as late as 1986! And taking it away was controversial.So it may be that you are right that computerisation wasn't essential, but most likely the reduction in cost of banking spread it to enough people that armed robbery became less of a risk.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]