Description
In one short human generation, the primary work of the world has moved from the use of muscle to the use of machines, machines that move information rather than goods. We live in the age of the information revolution. That revolution centers upon the computer, a ma- chine of unquestioned power but questionable intelligence and competence. At heart, after all, computers are nothing more than soupedup pocket calculators which can push their own buttons. As such, they provide an electronic means for speeding up the basic operations of arithmetic-simple operations which enough pencils and paper could handle. Speed makes all the difference. And yet this speed has altered the world.
Arno Penzias has written this book to de- mystify the computer and to explain the relationship of human beings and the human brain to the new electronic world.
What, for instance, is information, besides a collection of symbols, of numbers and words and pictures? When processing this information, how do people extract meaning from these same symbols and how close can a machine come to that competence? How smart, in other words, are computers? How smart are they likely to become? What does this mean for the human role in modern economic life? What does it mean in terms of organization complexity? Will life be simpler or more complicated, and in what ways?
ISBN:9780393026498
