Synopses & Reviews
This is a book for people who want to know what the future is going to look like and for people who want to know how to create the future. Gershenfeld offers a glimpse at the brave new post-computerized world, where microchips work for us instead of against us. He argues that we waste the potential of the microchip when we confine it to a box on our desk: the real electronic revolution will come when computers have all but disappeared into the walls around us. Imagine a digital book that looks like a traditional book printed on paper and is pleasant to read in bed but has all the mutability of a screen display. How about a personal fabricator that can organize digitized atoms into anything you want, or a musical keyboard that can be woven into a denim jacket? Gershenfeld tells the story of his Things that Think group at MIT's Media Lab, the group of innovative scientists and researchers dedicated to integrating digital technology into the fabric of our lives.
Neil Gershenfeld, Ph.D., is an associate professor at MIT, the director of the Media Lab's Physics and Media Group, and codirector of the Things That Think consortium. Gershenfeld has written for Wired and for other technology publications, and he lives in Boston. This is a book for people who want to know what the future is going to look like and for people who want to know how to create the future. Gershenfeld offers a glimpse at the brave new post-computerized world, where microchips work for us instead of against us. He argues that we waste the potential of the microchip when we confine it to a box on our desk: the real electronic revolution will come when computers have all but disappeared into the walls around us. Imagine a digital book that looks like a traditional book printed on paper and is pleasant to read in bed but has all the mutability of a screen display. How about a personal fabricator that can organize digitized atoms into anything you want, or a musical keyboard that can be woven into a denim jacket? Gershenfeld tells the story of his Things That Think group at MIT's Media Lab, the group of innovative scientists and researchers dedicated to integrating digital technology into the fabric of our lives. "An important story about why and how computers will disappear, when and where your things will think."Nicholas Negroponte, director, MIT Media Laboratory
"In this lively, eye-opening book, Neil Gershenfeld gives us a peek into the next phase of the digital revolution. It only takes a few pages to shatter our paradigms about what is currently possible."Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Especially for technophobes, Gershenfeld's easy style and light use of technical terms make his book a fun and tantalizing glimpse into the world to come."Publishers Weekly
Review
"An important story about why and how computers will disappear, when and where your things will think." --Nicholas Negroponte, director, MIT Media Laboratory
Especially for technophobes, Gershenfeld's easy style and light use of technical terms make his book a fun and tantalizing glimpse into the world to come." --Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
"An important story about why and how computers will disappear, when and where your things will think."--Nicholas Negroponte, director, MIT Media Laboratory.
Synopsis
This is a book for people who want to know what the future is going to look like and for people who want to know how to create the future. Gershenfeld offers a glimpse at the brave new post-computerized world, where microchips work for us instead of against us. He argues that we waste the potential of the microchip when we confine it to a box on our desk: the real electronic revolution will come when computers have all but disappeared into the walls around us. Imagine a digital book that looks like a traditional book printed on paper and is pleasant to read in bed but has all the mutability of a screen display. How about a personal fabricator that can organize digitized atoms into anything you want, or a musical keyboard that can be woven into a denim jacket? Gershenfeld tells the story of his Things that Think group at MIT's Media Lab, the group of innovative scientists and researchers dedicated to integrating digital technology into the fabric of our lives.
About the Author
Neil Gershenfeld, Ph.D., is an associate professor at MIT, the director of the Media Lab's Physics and Media Group, and codirector of the Things that Think consortium. Gershenfeld has written for
Wired and for other technology publications, and he lives in Boston.