We got our first home computer in 1984. I know, a scary year to get into computers. A decade or so, later when the UWSP chancellor ordered computers for every faculty member, some said they didn't want a spying tool on their desk for the administration to use to watch over them. The idea is still around and it probably has more weight behind it now, with my personal data being sold to the Russians and all.
You probably know that computers, control, confinement and cruelty can be mixed together in frightening stories and anecdotes. I just looked up "Hal, the computer" on YouTube and quickly found the episode in the 1968 movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" where the smooth voice of smart and controlling Hal says, "I am afraid I can't do that, Dave" in the movie. You probably also know that fire, electricity, language, speech, writing, guns and sharp instruments can be frightening, too, and damaging, even. It can still be fun and profitable and convenient and exciting to have and drive automobiles, take rides in jet planes and cook at high temperatures.
Not all headaches and difficulties come from malevolence or malfunction. Trying to empty out my Kindle, just to drop the number of distractions it presents may be difficult. If the designing team and the programming team decide that it would be a sweet service to me to restore my Kindle as it was after I try emptying it, I can run into obstacles getting to the situation I want. Some smart machine somewhere could quickly memorize what I have jammed into my reader and keep "restoring" to the last way it was before I tried to simplify things.
During that first year of home computing, I had a strong feeling of a disaster when I accidentally blanked a disc of my course notes and handouts. "Oh, no"! Not my important notes! Within 15 minutes after blanking the wrong disc, I realized I would always rewrite and revise and never actually have the need to use what had been on it. My recent experience of emptying my Kindle reader and worrying that machines somewhere might "helpfully" restore it as it was, showed me that I want to preserve my ability, my right and my tools to wipe things clean and restart.
