Safer
- A way that computers have made the world safer is digitalizing a lot of things utilized in the physical world. For example, information stored in physical files in cabinets is always vulnerable to even simple mistakes such as spilling water, tearing it by accident, etc. With computers, data can be backed up, reproduced, encrypted, etc.
2. Another way computers have made the world safer is the direct communication and spread of news between world leaders becoming instant. This is on a much larger scale of thinking, but before the internet and technology we are used to today, communication between countries would be heavily delayed due to geographical limitations, leading to confusion, misinterpretation, and hostility. Now, governments can email each other, call each other, etc. and get responses instantly, making everything much more convenient and stable.
3. Computers that control security systems are very useful and make the world physically safer. With most security systems today, they can be remotely controlled with devices such as a smartphone or a computer. These devices can set physical limitations on doors or entrances with passwords or facial recognition, send alerts if someone is entering or leaving areas, and more.
Unsafer
- While information being digitalized with computers makes things safer with things like data encryption, at the same time, it also brings on an entire new realm of vulnerabilities. Not every single piece of information online is 100% secure, especially with older software used to store and protect said information. Everything is susceptible to data breaches, DDoS attacks, and much more.
2. More communication as well can also be a good thing and a bad thing. Easier and instant communication for political reasons does keep the world safer, but for a similar scale of the first points, it can also be abused, particularly through methods such as the spread of fake news online, doxxing, threats against political adversaries, etc.
3. Regarding things like facial recognition, certain groups such as governments are known to use technology like this against their own citizens, creating an unsafe environment with no privacy for them to live in. This is to keep extensive tracking on people, which is largely frowned upon by a majority of people in the world.