Do you think that the Internet and computers are having as big an impact on society as the invention of printing? Why or why not?​

Explanation:

A few years ago there was a series on who or what had the most influence on the depelement of mankind. I was pulling for Einstein as the program slowly made it to the top ten and then the top 5. There were lots of names to consider from 5 to 1. Newton came in 3 or 4 which is an understatement. Einstein came in at number 2, which really  surprised me. When it was all over, the Printing Press was number one.

Consider what it did. It made knowledge that much easier to spread to the lower classes. That made the upper classes very nervous because their power was seeping away. So the printing press affected politics and political organization.

It took the power away from the clergy for up until then, they held the power to tell if you belonged in Heaven or Hell. That gave religion a run for its money.

It made commerce a whole lot different, because how accounting was done changed.

You could make statements about family life, child birth, medicine, physics, chemistry that was helped by the printing press.

Have computers done the same thing? They certainly changed the face of commerce. They've changed education immensely. Most people don't write anymore. They type or even say things.

They mechanized our life (no one stands on a corner to direct traffic, for example). They've made transportation better and safer. They've made medicine less monotonous by doing the work for us.

But I'm not certain they're had the same effect as the printing press.

So my vote is for the printing press, but then I'm old.