First we should agree that "A Human Resources Information System is a system that lets you keep track of all your employees and information about them. It is usually done in a database or, more often, in a series of inter-related databases."
http://management.about.com/cs/peoplemanagement/g/HRinfosys.htm

Next are some general thoughts about our changing society. Education and specialization have to be the most dramatic changes directly affecting individuals in the work force. If we talk about society 500+ hundred years ago, the division between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots' was very lopsided. There were a few lords and many serfs, and upward mobility was severely limited. Maybe plantation owners and slaves is a more recent analogy for the huge separation we had.

With increased availability for education and specialization, anyone with the drive and ambition to be better, can. "Better" sets that person apart from his peers and then he is not one of the masses (or today, just a number). Cataloging people by their talents and education in a database can be positive because information is accessible for advancement possibilities.

We currently produce talented people whose natural intelligence has been amplified by education. Expecting that to continue, the general level of education should increase for the entire work force in the next 20 years. Those who are left behind today will be left behind 20 years from now, but the people who become more educated will become more specialized. The diamond cutter of today, educated over many years (much longer than a college career) may be the designer or operator of a special machine to cut diamonds in 20 years.

As far as being just a number, we are already there. Think of all the numbers in our lives that come first before names: drivers' licenses, social security numbers, credit card numbers, PIN numbers, FICO scores, loan numbers, etc. Each of us is a number in many diverse databases. 'Compromised' was an interesting choice of words, and rather negative in connotation. I wouldn't have chosen that word because I may be more accepting of (or resigned to) the changes we are constantly adapting to.

Small companies only need small HR information systems, and it is possible that as we become more specialized (outsourcing being a good example), there will be a person or an outside company who can create a system or provide information needed to deal with HR effectively.