One or the Other

When a resolution passed at the International Institute of Communications’ conference in Osaka, Japan, declaring that advances in telecommunications would usher in an era of “heaven on Earth,” American lawyer Delbert Smith had something to say. “Hell is a loss of privacy, and nothing brings us closer to hell than telecommunications technology,” he said. But “the Cold War was won not by weapons but by international broadcasters using technology to break jamming signals,” argued another delegate. “Heaven (in Eastern Europe) was created not by the sword but by the word.” Smith won the day, however: the resolution was overturned. (Reuters) ...Of course he won. American lawyers are renowned experts in the creation of hell.