That’s what a colleague asked me today, starting an interesting conversation. I jotted notes thinking it would be a good blog post. But I think I will save time and just post the notes:
Have computers made things cheaper in the last 40 years? How I would put it: have computers made us richer?
What about cars? Yes. CAD/CAM. Are cars cheaper? Yes – no-one had two cars 40 years ago. Your car now is as well specified as a 40-year-old Rolls Royce (if not better (safer (simulation)/more efficient(engine design and management)/more features – air conditioning/sat nav)). Not as pretigious but better.
What about food? Yes. Logistics, globalisation, better agriculture (research done using computers?, better/cheaper farming tools). No-one ate food from as many exotic countries 40 years ago. Food was probably a higher proportion of household budget. People eat out more now. Green revolution: people in poor countries starve less than they would have done otherwise.
What about homes? Everyone has double glazing and central heating now. Less money spent elsewhere makes this possible. Systems are cheaper. Chinese manufacturing made possible by logistics. Materials used in windows- materials research uses computers.
Do people earn more? Wrong question. Impossible to measure. What is the right measure of inflation? Basket of goods is useless when discussion goods that haven’t been invented. Right question is: what do people have now that they didn’t have then?
Increase in technology in general makes us richer. Computers are used for research and developing new technology, and running businesses more efficiently to help pay for research and development. Cheap goods from China rely on cheap Chinese labour = abundant Chinese labour. But this relies on moving stuff around more cheaply. Logistics = containerization; computer programs to load ships; computers to monitor ships’ engines to make them more efficient; computers to design ships; computers to manage inventory and reduce waste; just in time manufacture and delivery. CAD/CAM = new products to market faster and cheaper.
Computers free up time which gets used to do other things, like innovate or relax. BUT – computers make bureacrats more effective. Hmm.
Lifestyle is different now: if born 30 years before you were, would you have cozy office job? Less robots = more (physical) factory jobs. Fewer JCBs = more labouring outside? Working inside instead of out in the weather means longer, healthier life?
You will find computers involved in most things that make you feel rich. And computers are used to improve computers and other technology so the process accelerates. Computers for communication makes doing business in general cheaper (more efficient). Related thought: that measure of progress beloved by the left, inequality, has also decreased over last 40 years. See: central heating, double glazing, two cars with sat-nav and air conditioning, foreign holidays: everyone has these things. All having more money buys you is fancier homes, cars and holidays. A Rolls-Royce and a large house in Westminster and a holiday in a 5 star resort in the Maldives is more expensive than but functionally equivalent to a Ford Mondeo and a flat in Essex and a holiday in a budget resort in Spain. Technology is an equaliser.
Computers in particular and technology in general have played a part in making all those things cheaper.