Synopses & Reviews
The primary thesis here is the authors' belief that the emergence of computers as an elemental force in our society must be viewed with a sceptical eye. Crandall and Levich, one a mathematician, the other a philosopher, strive, however, to present a balanced viewpoint, investigating and reflecting on the good and bad sides of this revolution, and seek meaning in this "Information Age". Their examination is stripped of journalistic hyperbole, the cries of self-serving prophets, and the sales pitches of the soft- and hardware industries. In separating the wheat from the chaff, the authors provide readers with a much better understanding of the limitations of these new technologies, along with propositions for their better use and within the societal context.
Synopsis
Computer technology has become a mirror of what we are and a screen on which we project both our hopes and our fears for the way the world is changing. Earlier in this century, particularly in the post-World War II era of unprecedented growth and prosperity, the social contract between citi zens and scientists/engineers was epitomized by the line Ronald Reagan promoted as spokesman for General Electric: "Progress is our most impor tant product. " In more recent decades, post-Chernobyl, post-Challenger, post-Bhopal, post-Microsoft, the social contract has undergone a transfor mation. More people are uncertain, fearful, and downright opposed to the notion that more technology guarantees a better life. What is a "better life"? Who benefits and who loses when new technologies change the way we live, work, learn, and play? Who has a say in the way technologies are designed and deployed? Where are we going, are we sure we want to go there, and who has the power to do anything about itt From the early days of the railroads, into the era of electrification, through the McLuhan age, much of the discourse about technology has been hype, utopianism, and what some historians have called "the rhetoric of the technological sublime. " We have discovered, however, that not all people benefit economically or politically from technological change."
Synopsis
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Table of Contents
Essay 1: A Conspiracy of Parts = In the early 1960s a blizzard of parts, upgrades, revisions commenced which was perpetrated by silicon companies, from which conspiracy we have still not recovered. Essay 2: Toward a Theory of Machine Consciousness = All we have really gotten from the A.I. revolution so far is something akin to microwave appliances that "usually" work. Essay 3: Multimedia: Melange' Obscur = The unfortunate effect of modern multimedia on the normal practice of scientific investigation is discussed. Essay 4: Network Chaos = How communication, thought and emotion become forced cartooning on the BBS, and how language, and users of it are transformed for the worst. Essay 5: Education Be Not Automatic = It is argued that the "computer revolution" may yield a null result, unless the nature of education is taken seriously before computers intervene. Essay 6: Virtual Reality, and All That= The emergence of "virtual reality" (VR) is first discussed from a logical perspective, then from a functional perspective, along with obfuscation factors arising from various uses of the term.