When things start to think

the long version

We live in a world of increasingly intrusive information technology, requiring that people meet the needs of machines rather than the other way around. In When Things Start to Think, Neil Gershenfeld explains why this has happened and how to fix it. This book presents a compelling vision of what the world will be like tomorrow, based on technology in the laboratory today. From a shoe that can exchange data through a handshake, to a universal book that can change the printing on its pages, to a supercomputer in a coffee cup, Gershenfeld shows how to dismantle the barrier between the bits of the digital world and the atoms of our physical world in order to bring together the best attributes of both worlds.