Posted: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 12:00 am
In Lake Oswego last week, a teacher discovered that students in the eighth grade didn't know how to address an envelope. The incident might be symbolic of how vulnerable we have become as a civilization.
The problem was that a virus had shut down the school computers, and the teacher wanted to send home a note to the parents, evidently by mail. But these young teenagers had no idea of the conventions of writing an address.
Being unable to address an envelope is a minor problem in the age when personal mail is a thing of the past. But the episode illustrates how incapable we are becoming of doing a lot of things that are now done digitally.
Can American business still keep accounts on paper? Can the essential processes of government be performed if the digital infrastructure is destroyed by an act of war? The answer is no. And this gives hostile forces - whether terrorists now or more traditional enemies in some future war - quite a fat target at which to shoot. (hh)