The computer and our changing society

Those responsible for this convention are to be congratulated for including a whole day's session on the impact of computers on society. Usually when engineers and scientists meet the subject matter is almost wholly technical. In a way this is strange because the common, quick definition of engineering is "the application of science to society's needs." If this definition were really to be taken seriously, it would mean that those who practice engineering would seek to be equally expert in science and in society, since one can hardly be professional about applying science to something he does not understand.