When Things Start to Think Book

Meet Cyborg Man. There he is in his slick new suit, hand outstretched. As soon as you shake it you know his name, his address and who he works for. And he's yet to speak. He ushers you to the door of the office which unlocks as soon as he touches the handle. As you enter he lifts the phone, his touch immediately downloading the day's messages. Smart stuff. And the secret lies in the clothes he is wearing. For in this remarkable new book Gershenfeld, a director at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, presents a fascinating look at the future of computers, including carrying them round in jackets and shoes. It's possible because of fabric circuits powered through the human body. And it gives today what Arthur C Clarke predicted for the next millennium. Gershenfeld presents an insight of a wired future that is staggering in its ingenuity. The paperless newspaper. The book without printed pages that can allow you to read any volume ever produced, the electronics that enable you to see in all directions as you walk, sensors that measure bodily functions--and display your condition on a "dashboard of the body" as you move around. This is the stuff of the 21st Century. The incredible thing is that it is already here. Gershfeld maintains we have had the digital revolution, now it's time for the evolution in which the people not the machines come to the fore. He makes a convincing case. --Stuart RussellRead More