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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.

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.

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1 A Conspiracy Of Parts.- ? Doubly flawed anatomical design.- ? Computer technology as a product of world war.- ? The brilliance of John von Neumann.- ? When there was one transistor per person.- ? A game of leapfrog.- ? The “cotasking” of biological systems.- ? Neural networks and genetic algorithms.- ? The promise of nanotechnology.- ? Quantum computation.- ? The fate of the conspiracy.- 2 Toward A Theory Of Machine Consciousness.- ? The boondoggle of artificial intelligence.- ? Double obfuscation.- ? Extreme difficulty.- ? Progress in AI.- ? Input starvation.- ? Output modes: expert systems and intelligent agents.- ? The mysterious “Gedankenexperiment”.- ? A theory of machine consciousness.- 3 Multimedia: Melange Obscur.- ? A night at the opera.- ? The meaning of media.- ? Visual data.- ? Audio data.- ? Text still suffers.- ? Ink as data medium.- ? Teleconferencing as canonical testbed.- ? A scenario for unified multimedia.- ? Scientific visualization and the demolition of science.- 4 A Network Orange.- ? Unpredictability.- ? Oracles and actors.- ? The BBS as canonical educational testbed.- ? Language mangling.- ? The emergence of the World Wide Web.- ? On the issue of network responsibility.- 5 Virtual Reality, And All That.- ? What does virtual really mean?.- ? VR implementations.- ? The fascination with VR.- ? From little reality to big reality.- ? Simulating from the vacuum.- ? Maps, models, and immersion.- ? The Holy Grail.- ? GVR.- 6 Education Be Not Automatic.- ? Education pursuant to technology.- ? What education is and what it is not.- ? Incremental revolutions.- ? Enriching the curriculum with the computer.- ? Computer technology and liberal education.- ? How not to teach writing.- ? From words to pictures.- ? The Scottish Verdict: not proven.

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