STATESIDE Stateside


Sharon Harris looks at the light and dark sides of today’s


technological advancements in our society and industry.


Prisoners of technology H


ave we as a society become “prisoners” of technology? I say we have. Since the dawn of the computer age decades ago, advancements have both helped and hurt society. So, on balance, is the overall impact more positive or negative?


The answer is probably generational. Talk to the-under-35 or


40 crowd and they question how anyone survived without a personal cell phone and its technology. Ask someone over 50 and the response may be quite different. For example, as part of the Baby Boomer (1946-1964)


generation, my age group considered these inventions great achievements: • Answering machines and call waiting/forwarding for phones-they saved my social life when I was single.


• Micro records in libraries. • Electric typewriters. • VCR equipment to record television shows. • Advances in playing music, from records to cassette tapes to CDs.


• Cars with power windows, seats, locks, built-in CD/cassette players, etc. There are countless more, but you get the idea. My generation


received a traditional education in reading, writing, spelling and counting. That is a bygone era as kids today learn on tablets and computers. Admittedly, technology’s enormous benefi ts are obvious…


speed of research, medical communication, safer travel, employment opportunities, etc. The list goes on and on. However, there is clearly a darker side. Anyone who has


8 SEPTEMBER 2023


ever been hacked (and I have) understands the insidious nature of it all. I am concerned after learning about two recent news stories.


Both, if true, could defi nitely impact gaming negatively. All summer, I was in a weekly card game where shuffling


the decks was tedious. My group discussed investing in a basic consumer card shuffler for faster, more accurate shuffling, but never did. I remember the early 1990s introduction of the original Shuffl e


Master mechanical shuffl er. Every hand was dealt from a fresh deck. As casinos continued to use multiple decks for blackjack, single-deck shuffl ers became almost obsolete. Shuffl e Master jumped into the slot machine business in 1998, becoming SHFL in late 2012. By the end of 2013, Bally


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80