Dr. Michio Kaku, famous American physicist and futurologist, probably said it best:

We have to realize that science is a double-edged sword. One edge of the sword can cut against poverty, illness, disease and give us more democracies, and democracies never war with other democracies, but the other side of the sword could give us nuclear proliferation, biogerms and even forces of darkness.

This double-edged quality affects us on an everyday level as well. Take computers, for example. Technology seems to promise us so much, but delivers so much frustration. For example, under no circumstances would I purchase an automobile whose electronics are so complicated that even experienced computer users are frustrated getting them to work properly without expending undue effort.

The average home computer user is presented with an infinite number of options as to which application software to use. But is he or she able to make wise decisions in this area? The temptation to go cheap or free is overwhelming.

I have one friend who loaded his computer with open-source word processing and portable data file (PDF) systems, only to spend untold hours trying to make it work with the operating system and with all the other software on the computer. He has recently uninstalled most of these cheapster programs.

A year ago, I bought a data tablet that actually had no user manual available on the Internet, or anywhere else. I got it to work … sometimes. I have since laid it aside with some regret.

At the same time, I have benefited from sturdy software like Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat. I manage to get a lot done on my computer, but dread having to face operating system upgrades.