Some Social Aspects of Computers and Numbers

The use of computers is having a variety of effects on day-today activities, including playing cards. Some three years ago, I shifted my home to near the center of a regional city after spending 20 years living in the countryside. This change encouraged me to resume playing duplicate bridge (tinyurl. com/2cmydj4) after a lapse of half a century. The first 18 months of bridge once or twice a week were pleasant and sociable. Technically it was also quite familiar, at least in the card play itself. The bidding systems had changed a bit, but not uncomfortably. Then the local club began using a computer driven card-dealing machine. For the administrators this was a boon. For the players it was very unsettling.