In it, I addressed the "need" for a personal computer, which at that time, since the term "PC" had not yet come into use, I called a "percom". I also employed the term "homer" to describe an advanced version of the percom.

The excerpt consists of three quotations, the first from a real book, the second and third from books that have yet to be written. Although written in 1975, the fictional "quotation" in the second paragraph below could, with the substitution of "PC" for "percom," have well appeared in the forecased 1996 time frame.

Here, then, are the three quotations:

George Katona, in his book "The Mass Consumption Society", McGraw Hill, 1964, writes (p55) "Toward the end of the last century, nobody "wanted" an automobile. Whether the invention of the horseless buggy was due to accident, play, tinkering or rational thinking on the part of people endowed with mechanical abilities is immaterial . . . Surely the invention did not originate with the consumer . . . Even when the first cars appeared . . . their use for mass transportation was envisaged neither by producers nor by consumers. But today, even small children . . . feel the need for a car to take them and their parents shopping, visiting, and later, to school. Between the early days . . . and the present situation, there was a long period of social learning. The learning process was . . . not spontaneous . . . it was a function of numerous stimuli - personal experience, education, and reading, as well as propaganda and advertising. Thus it may be said that wants for automobiles were induced, or. . . "contrived". But are not most of our wants contrived in this sense? And are not most of our contrived wants, in a certain sense, original with the buyer? It can hardly be said that such want-creation is artificial."

George Katona, Jr., in his book "The Mass Consumption Society", (2nd Edition), McGraw Hill, 1996, writes (p55) "Toward the middle of the 1970's, nobody "wanted" a percom. Whether the invention of the digital computer was due to accident, play, tinkering or rational thinking on the part of people endowed with electronic logic abilities is immaterial . . . Surely the invention did not originate with the consumer . . . Even when the first computers appeared . . . their use for mass personal use was envisaged neither by producers nor by consumers. But today, even small children . . . feel the need for a percom to help them and their parents manage their affairs, help them with schoolwork, entertain them with electronic games and the like. Between the early days . . . and the present situation, there was a long period of social learning. The learning process was, . . . not spontaneous . . . it was a function of numerous stimuli - personal experience, education, and reading, as well as propaganda and advertising. Thus it may be said that wants for percoms were induced . . . ."

George Katona III, in his book "The Mass Consumption Society", (3rd Edition), McGraw Hill, 2024, writes (p55) "Toward the end of the last century, nobody "wanted" a homer. Whether the invention of the home robot-computer was due to accident, play, tinkering or rational thinking on the part of people endowed with cybernetic abilities is immaterial . . . Surely the invention did not originate with the consumer . . . Even when the first real-time computers appeared . . . their use for personal home management was envisaged neither by producers nor by consumers. But today, even small children . . . feel the need for a homer to help them and their parents manage their lives, protect them, entertain them and the like. Between the early days . . . ."