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Title:
When Things Start to Think
Review:
To those of us who spend our days on the web where an Internet year
is equivalent to three months of old world time, it may well feel as
though we are already living in the future. Reading this book would
soon change your mind. Neil Gershenfeld believes he sees the future
of technology every day he goes in to work. His job is co-director
of the Things That Think research consortium at the MIT Media
Laboratory in the U.S. And it is here that he is exposed to the kinds
of technologies many of us won’t be seeing for a few more years yet.
If you think the current state of computing is pretty smart, what
about a computer in your shoe that can communicate with other peoples
wired footwear when you meet on the street? Or how about electronic
books using digital paper, which uses computerised ink with the same
readability as printed text but can reformat itself on demand. Even
more wacky is a three dimensional printer which could be thought of
as a personal desktop factory.
There are two things which I really like about this book. Firstly it
is written in a chatty non-technical style with very little jargon
and lots of clear and simple explanations. Secondly the author,
despite being from a technical background and having seen the
quantum leaps in computing over the past fifteen years, realises
there is still a long way to go. Until computers are both pervasive
and invisible, technology cannot really be regarded as intelligent.
Humans shouldn’t have to adapt to computers - it should be the other
way around. The state of the art PC I am using to produce this review
does not even know I am sitting in front of it, let alone what kind
of mood I am in or how hungry or tired I am. And why do I have to use
an invention from two centuries ago to communicate with it?
Where I disagree with Gershenfeld is in his optimistic assessment of
the future. He believes that once the technology has matured it will
become a natural extension of our bodies. We will reach a kind of
technological nirvana. However he fails to notice examples from
history that show how scientific developments have been abused to the
detriment of humankind. We have nuclear power and genetically
engineered medicines but also nuclear bombs and ‘Frankenstein’ foods.
We have the global communications network know as the Internet but
also an information disenfranchised majority who are not connected.
Technology cannot be separated from society and however perfect its
developments they must be applied to an imperfect world.
Free Pint Reviewer:
Neil Infield <neil@infield.nu> is Manager of Business Information
Services (BIS) at Hermes Pensions Management Ltd. the principal fund
manager for the British Telecom and Post Office pensions schemes.
Recently he has taken the initiative in developing web activities
within Hermes, and is now responsible for developing and maintaining
both the company web site and intranet. The intranet has been built
without any technical or programming input using a combination of
FrontPage 98 and FileMaker Pro.
Neil is on the board of the European Chapter of the Special Libraries
Association where he edits their
newsletter and website.
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Other reviews of Internet strategy books on the Free Pint bookshelf.
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