Author's Note

Although computers and other high technology products have been at the focus of my working career, I have held both white and blue-collar jobs in various Western countries, and have traveled on a shoestring through dozens of underdeveloped nations such as India, Egypt, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. In the process, I have had personal contact with a wide range of social and economic classes.

While I am grateful for being born into the relative wealth of Western society, my sympathies lie with the socially and economically abused people on the planet, not only because I recognize the forces that have produced the conditions under which they live, but because I have witnessed as much or more ethical behavior and human kindness among the poor as I have among those who are relatively much better off.

David
Vancouver, Canada
March 1990