Beyond Calculation: The Next Fifty Years of Computing

A 'futures' book, Beyond Calculation offers a positive look at how technology might interact with us in the not-so-distant future. The most impressive quality of the book is the grounded-ness of the essays. As readers, we are not presented with a mountain of pie-in-the-sky predictions that have no basis in reality, or Star Wars-like oohs and ahs. To the contrary, anyone with any knowledge of technology will see that these are serious essays, by qualified technologists taking care to work within a framework of common sense. The futures they paint seem plausible, yet are still surprising. I found myself saying, "of course" many times as I read through the scenarios.

The book itself should be of great interest to anyone who is struggling to get a view of how technology will impact us in the future. Thankfully, these authors, save one, believe that if we can keep our perspective on the idea of technology serving and expanding us, the rush rush of today's hyperculture can subside. Educators, business people and those with an interest in learning what technology can (and might) do should definitely open and read this book. It is a hopeful look at a future too many are willing to paint in gray.


Beyond Calculation: A Review   March 5, 2000
Melanie Tucker (Los Angeles, California)
2 out of 5 found this review helpful

BEYOND CALCULATION was published in celebration of the golden anniversary of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). The twenty essays explore computing over the next fifty years in terms of the future consequences caused by the way computers are being used today in Part I, The Coming Revolution". The affect computers will have on our lives and identity is discussed in Part II, "Computers and Human Identity". This review will focus on Pare III, Business and Innovation". The writers who contribute to Part III look at the effects of "ubiquitous digital information" on leadership, business practices, innovation, and learning. The omnipresence of digital information is given artificial life in "Sharing Our Planet". Donald D. Chamberlin suggests that, like DNA, digital devices form an ecosystem or "digital habitat". Occupying the ecosystem are "digital individuals", the programs that give the devices function and personality. The "digital habitat" has grown into an interconnected global network. Chamberlin concludes that as a result of the "new digital inhabitants" information becomes free and ubiquitous.

The leader that emerges in the year 2047 will be responsible for the articulation and rearticulation of a company's identity. In an environment where change may be the only constant, the leader takes a new approach to change viewing it as healthy and necessary. The leader must lead the reinvention of a company's identity over time to insure the company's survival. The impact of three decades of computers and information technology has transformed the computer from a calculator and storage device to a vital communication tool. The world becomes more fast pace as information technology reduces the time between innovation and effect.

In "Information Warfare", Larry Druffel highlights the issues surrounding internet security. This essay places the responsibility for the protection of information with the individual or institution that owns it. In light of the recent security intrusions into some of internet's largest websites, security becomes an immense concern when we envision having all information in some electronic form fifty years from now. The learning institution will change to prepare knowledge workers for the workplace of the future. Environments of hyperlearning will replace classrooms with a linear model of learning. In the hyperlearning environment the student-teacher relationship as "apprentice-master" will be most effective. The job of the teacher will be to cultivate knowledge. The two forces that will drive change in the curricula, learning environment and the role of the teacher, reflect both student demand for a more "customer-orientated relationship with the university" and the affect of digital media and networking.

The leadership of the future will be faced with all of these issues. The contributors to Part III, "Business and Innovation", agree on one point. They agree that predicting the future impact of computers, networks, and information and communication technology on business and learning five decades from now is a challenging task.


We will publish its Chinese translation version in 1998   February 13, 1998
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

I am the chief editor of series books called "Computer Culture" that includes this book. Hebei University Publishing House in Baiding, China, has brought its Chinese translation copyright through Copyright Agency of China in Beijing. We will publish it in 1998. The series also include books Out of Their Mind and The State of the Cybernation. My email address is: huajie@usa.net


WOW! What the future can hold...   February 24, 2000
Victoria R. Thompson (Laguna Niguel, CA Pepperdine Doctoral Student)
0 out of 4 found this review helpful

A compulation of essays by some awesome minds. This book examines the ideas of the future via a technique of developing scenarios.

Each author was asked to predict what the next fifty years would bring. Some of the authors look at advancement of technology itself. Other authors review what some of those advancements might mean with regards to our living space. Additional essays explore what business will look like in the year 2047.

A key theme running through the essays is the ubiquitious nature technology will have in years ahead. Having technology inter-woven and abundant in our lives will change many social and political institutions. "Beyond Calculation" depicts these ideas with both tactical information to consider as well as futuristic ideas of what might be possible.

The book also works through ideas about how technology will become more user friendly and design simplificaton will become essential.

All of the ideas are exciting and interesting. Great read if you like considering the unknown, the reachable, or endless possiblities.

A BOOK TO REALLY MAKE YOU THINK!


A very dry, but interesting book   August 10, 1997
dean_kagawa@hp.com (Tampa, FL)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

This book gets you thinking about some of the possibilities of computing. I personally found the style too dry, which accounts for my low score. If the essays were all written in Sherry Turkle's style (one of the contributors), I would have rated the book higher. But the ideas are *GREAT*, and to have all these peoples ideas in one book is wonderful