19.446 the present future of computing

               Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 19, No. 446.
       Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                   www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
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         Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2005 11:22:04 +0000
         From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty_at_kcl.ac.uk>
         Subject: the present future of computing

  From Bob Frankston, "Beyond Limits", in Beyond=20
Calculation: The Next Fifty Years of Computing,=20
ed. Denning and Metcalfe (New York: Copernicus, 1997), p. 44:

"The pace of change is limited only by our
ability to innovate. This pace has been
accelerating because the computer itself is our
key tool. As we improve computers, we increase
our ability to improve them.... The computer
itself will 'disappear into the woodwork'. Our
challenge is to learn how to master this new
arena -- one in which we are not writing programs
but adding intelligence to everything around us.
The limit is our ability to manage complexity. It
is a world in which resiliency is more important than perfection."

Comments?

Yours,
WM

Dr Willard McCarty | Reader in Humanities=20
Computing | Centre for Computing in the=20
Humanities | King's College London | Kay House, 7=20
Arundel Street | London WC2R 3DX | U.K. | +44=20
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Received on Sun Nov 27 2005 - 07:04:10 EST