A Network Orange: Logic and Responsibility in the Computer Age Book

As the computer emerges as an elemental force in our society, the claims made for it grow more and more astonishing. Machine consciousness will be achieved; virtual reality will become so convincing you'll literally forget you're in an unreal world; computers in every classroom will revolutionize education. It's becoming hard to tell where technology forecasting leaves off and hype begins! In a remarkably clear-eyed look at some of the major unexamined assumptions of our times, computer scientist Richard Crandall and philosopher Marvin Levich look at the ideas underlying the Information Revolution, with the belief that it is time for sharper scrutiny of a revolution that gives rise to profound problems of responsibility for computer users, educatiors and designers. The six essays making up A Network Orange provide new views of such subjects as: * Why market forces make your computer clumsy and inefficient. * Why we must differentiate between machine intelligence and machine consciousness. * Why the educational value of bulletin boards, chat rooms and other network forums is essentially nil. * Why the concept of virtual reality is fraught with logical absurdities. Lucid, penetrating and relentlessly logical, A Network Orange is a much-needed antidote to the dreamy hype surrounding so many aspects of modern computing.Read More