Solid-state devices and the age of indolence

Solid-state device technology is extending man´s capabilities and the subsequent change in manufacturing technology offers a major threat to large segments of existing manufacturing industry, although, simultaneously, the same technology is creating major new markets - many indeed associated with the growing leisure industries. Hence the overall relationship between solid-state device technology and indolence in its widest sense would seem to be: first, current trends in silicon integrated-circuit technology lead inexorably to the need for massive redeployment and retraining of people currently employed in many existing industries; secondly, this same technology is creating many new market and job opportunities, frequently associated with the consumer and leisure industries; and, thirdly, a useful way of forecasting further technical change is to work on the assumption that it will be in such a direction as to make life `easier¿ for the manufacturer or the user - or both