The technology of literacy for any given culture helps to Determine the character of its members. In less than 3,000 years, Western culture has been transformed from an oral/aural culture through many increasingly literate phases to a present stage which is approaching "computer literacy." Erich Fromm suggests that in the course of Western civilization, the trend has been one of increasing individuation and experienced individuality. He argues that as humans have gained more freedom, they have come to feel more lonely and alienated from each other than in cultures with less freedom, where people have greater feelings of security and belonging. The social upheavals of the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation have enlarged people's freedom, leaving them with the conflict between individuality and security. Shifts in literacy technology, such as the discovery/invention of the transposable alphabet and the development of a practical method for casting movable type, form part of the underpinning of shifts in human consciousness. What, then, are the implications of the current pre-eminence of computers in modern society? What spiritual and philosophical views might be generated as a result of "computer literacy?" Because the lag time between literacy technology shift and cultural outcome appears to be decreasing, society may soon become aware of the cultural effects of the computer revolution. (MM)