Slaves of the Machine: The Quickening of Computer Technology

Computer scientist Rawlins (Moths to the Flame: The Seductions of Computer Technology) addresses his book to those ""who don't know much about computers,"" painting cyber-history in broad strokes, then gazing rapturously into his silicon ball. The ""quickening"" of his subtitle has two meanings: one, speeding up, and two, coming to life, as in the womb. The first indisputably applies to the growth of information technology; computers are doubling in complexity every 18 months, and, as Rawlins exclaims, ""we're in a fireball of change."" Exploring the second meaning, he draws us into more speculative territory: ""One day, perhaps soon, we'll create mobile, semi-intelligent beings to do our dull, dirty, and dangerous work. Soon after that, they'll become so useful and so competent that we'll keep them as pets and as companions for our children."" In the meantime, he argues, we must rethink how to design computers. Building them should be like letting them ""grow,"" and programming languages should enable ""intuition-style"" processing that makes use of redundant information. Rawlins's breezy style and plentiful metaphors make for great quotability, and his predictions are less far-fetched than skeptics might think. However, more specifics from robotics and artificial intelligence would have helped persuade us that R2D2 and C3PO are really out there, gestating. (June)