The Future Does Not Compute: Transcending the Machines in Our Midst

by Steve Talbott

Many pundits tell you that the computer is ushering us toward a new Golden Age of Information. A few tell you that the computer is destroying everything worthwhile in our culture. But almost no one tells you what Stephen L. Talbott shows in this surprising the intelligent machine gathers its menacing powers from hidden places within you and me. It does so, that is, as long as we gaze into our screens and tap on our keyboards while less than fully conscious of the subtle influences passing through the interface.Talbott awakens us to these influences by conducting a wide-ranging After reading The Future Does Not Compute , you will never again be able to sit in front of your computer with quite the same glazed stare.(BACKCOVER COPY) The technological Djinn, now loosened from all restraints, tempts us with visions of a surreal future. It is a future with robots who surpass their masters in dexterity and wit; intelligent agents who roam the Net on our behalf, seeking the informational elixir that will make us whole; new communities inhabiting the clean, infinite reaches of cyberspace, freed from war and conflict; and lending libraries of "virtually real" experiences that seem more sensational than the real thing.Not all of this is idle or fantastic speculation -- even if it is the rather standard gush about our computerized future. Few observers can see any clear limits to what the networked computer might eventually accomplish. It is this stunning, wide-open potential that leads one to wonder what the Djinn will ask of us in return for the gift. After all, any potential so dramatic, so diverse, so universal , can be taken in many directions. That is its very nature. Who will choose the direction -- we, or the Djinn?The intelligent machine receives a shadow of our own intelligence. This shadow consists of all the collective, automatic, sleepwalking, deterministic processes we have yielded to. That is, it consists of our own willingness to become machines. The crucial question today is whether we can wake up in time. Only in wakefulness can we distinguish ourselves from the automatisms around us. Where we remain asleep -- where we live in our own shadow -- we are the Djinn.The Net is the most powerful invitation to remain asleep we have ever faced. Contrary to the usual view, it dwarfs television in its power to induce passivity, to scatter our minds, to destroy our imaginations, and to make us forget our humanity.And yet -- for these very reasons -- the Net may also be an opportunity to enter into our fullest humanity with a self-awareness never yet achieved. But few even seem aware of the challenge, and without awareness we will certainly fail.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy

481 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1995

Reviews

[Phil Mendez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had me with the sincerely Stephen editorial style about halfway through, then the philosophical musings waxed a little too loose and poetic and I lost interest.

[Jerome · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written during the height of the DotCom craze (and published by a company largely trumpeting the emergent technologies) this book was an eye opener for me. Going against the then-current thinking that the Internet would be the tool to usher in ever-expanding democracy and the re-birth of community, The Future Does Not Compute warned against the effect that technology has on individual and social human life. Anyone who thinks having a million people walking the streets, plugged into cell phones & iPods, completely disassociated from the place and those around them might not be a good thing, then this book will likely have something to offer.

[Angela Randall]

Available to read for free here.

[Moulee · Rating 5 out of 5]

gives you a lot to think about..really interesting book..:D

[Clint · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the most concise or organized presentation. But many interesting ideas.