The New Renaissance: Computers and the Next Level of CivilizationThe electronic computer, argues Douglas Robertson, is the most important invention in the history of technology, if not all history It has already set off an information explosion that has changed many facets of civilization beyond recognition. These changes have ushered in nothing less than the dawn of a new level of civilization. In The New Renaissance, Robertson offers an important historical perspective on the computer revolution, by comparing it to three earlier landmarks of human development--language, writing, and printing. We see how these three inventions changed how we capture, store, and distribute information, and how each thereby triggered an information explosion that transformed society, ushering in a new civilization utterly unlike anything before. But history has never seen a revolution on the scale of the one being sparked by computers today. What can we expect from the most important technological breakthrough in human history? Robertson lays out possible scenarios regarding transformations in science and mathematics, education, language, the arts, and everyday life. School children, for instance, will forsake pencil and paper for keyboard and calculator, much as their forebears forsook clay tablets and abaci for pencil and paper. In films, the computer simulations of Jurassic Park could be eclipsed by "synthespians," artificial actors indistinguishable from living ones. Whether one is a computer enthusiast, a popular science buff, or simply someone fascinated by the future, The New Renaissance provides a breathtaking peek at the magnitude of changes we can expect as the full power of computers is unleashed. |
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Page 139
... quartal arithmetic is that its numbers tend to be slightly longer and clumsier to use than those in higher base systems . However , the number of addi- tional digits that must be dealt with is less than one might think . Quartal numbers ...
... quartal arithmetic is that its numbers tend to be slightly longer and clumsier to use than those in higher base systems . However , the number of addi- tional digits that must be dealt with is less than one might think . Quartal numbers ...
Page 140
... quartal arithmetic . This advantage was noted by Thiele in 1889 ( see Glaser 1981 , 173 ) . And the only price to be paid for this enormous computational simplification is that the quartal numbers tend to have about 50 percent more ...
... quartal arithmetic . This advantage was noted by Thiele in 1889 ( see Glaser 1981 , 173 ) . And the only price to be paid for this enormous computational simplification is that the quartal numbers tend to have about 50 percent more ...
Page 141
... quartal , octal , and hexadecimal , octal is clearly the odd man out . Prior to the 1940s practically nothing came ... quartal arithmetic for those applications where octal or hexadecimal are used today . The advantages of quartal are so ...
... quartal , octal , and hexadecimal , octal is clearly the odd man out . Prior to the 1940s practically nothing came ... quartal arithmetic for those applications where octal or hexadecimal are used today . The advantages of quartal are so ...
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
and the New Copernican Revolution | 37 |
in Science and Mathematics | 57 |
8 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
able algebra algorithm already axioms base Basic English bers binary bits calculation Cantor cellular automaton century changes chapter civiliza computer display computer revolution computer technology computerized Copernican revolution countable creative decimal arithmetic difficulties digits discovery effects electronic elements eliminate English language Euclid example exist explore exponential growth finite fundamental growth rate halting problem hexadecimal human idea impact of computer important infinite number infinity information explosion integers invention irrational numbers language level of civilization library of Alexandria mathematicians mathematics metic musical niques nology nonlinear problems octal orders of magnitude performance physics possible prime numbers printing produced proof puter Pythagoreans quantity of information quartal question rational numbers real numbers require simple skills solution square standard English Stewart subset synthespian tech techniques theory tion transfinite transfinite numbers translation Turing Turing machine Turing's uncomputable numbers understand universe word word processors