The Invisible Future
Book

The Invisible Future

The Seamless Integration of Technology Into Everyday Life

Peter J. Denning
McGraw-Hill, 2002
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

The gates to the human genome have fallen, nano-technology is redefining life itself, and Moore’s law continues to work its magic. But is there a dark side to the technology juggernaut? The answer provided by the contributors to this cutting-edge tome is a definite, "maybe." If technology cannot be made more human-centric - designed to respond to human wants and needs - its promise could indeed be thwarted. getAbstract.com strongly recommends this book to anyone whose work helps to hone technology’s cutting edge, and for those who just hope to stay on the safe side of the blade.

Summary

Knowledge Gone Wild

In the race between scientific accomplishment and the expanding human concept of what is possible, science would seem to be winning. Simply put, the day may soon come when one’s wildest imaginings are inadequate to keep up with the developments of science. Sound far-fetched? Considering that the 21st century will bring about nothing less than the blending of human and machine, it’s no exaggeration at all. Astrophysics and computer science are two examples of burgeoning fields of scientific knowledge. To truly appreciate what is driving the many changes we are experiencing, however, it is necessary to understand that today, biology has become an information science.

It was a scientist working in a medical lab who first discovered DNA, as published in a medical journal in 1944. The discovery went unappreciated for eight years; but then, Mendel’s work on genetics went unrecognized for 35 years. The day that DNA was discovered, the age of biology as an information science began.

When biologists try to describe the genome to others, they use metaphors: It is like a book, or a blueprint, a sort of periodic table of life. Unfortunately, these metaphors...

About the Author

Editor Peter J. Denning, Ph.D, is chair of the Information Technology Council at George Mason University. He helped to pioneer the development of operating systems through the 1960s and 1970s, and today is considered an innovative futurist and leader in IT theory. Denning has published six books and over 280 articles on networks, computers, and operating systems. He has held several leadership positions in the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

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