Moths to the Flame

"For two decades now I've been awaiting a book explaining computers and their social consequences to literate readers without using ny unnecessary jargon or pedantry - or math. I wanted such a book to lend to all those friends who've pestered me about computers and to all the computer science students who've asked me about computers over the years.". Gregory Rawlins, who teaches artificial intelligence at Indiana University, got tired of waiting for that book and decided to write it himself. In Moths to the Flame he take us on a humorous yet thought-provoking tour of the world wrought by modern technology, a technology, he points out, that is rooted deep inside the military: a technology that when applied to everyday life, may have startling results. In our headlong rush toward networked humanity Rawlins raises serious concerns about our future jobs and our future wars: we can figure out what kind of job to get today if we know where technology is taking us tomorrow. The book's first four chapters explore the worlds of privacy, virtual reality, publishing, and computer networks, while the last four focus on social issues such as warfare, jobs, computer catastrophes, and the future itself. Throughout, unusual, eye-opening analogies and historical comparisons - from Egyptian hieroglyphics to the sewing machine to the code-breakers of World War II - give us a context for the computer age, showing how new technologies have always bred intertwined hope and resistance.