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

by Steve Talbott (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Stephen Talbott's The Future Does Not Compute has been widely touted as a neo-Luddite anti-computer tract. This sort of pigeonholing makes it easy to ignore the profound and disturbing questions Talbott raises about our machine-dominated society. The author brings years of computer and Internet experience to the table, leavened by a deep skepticism of techno-idealism, disdain of muddy thinking, and fear that we have embraced an overwhelming force before we've begun to examine its implications.

Is technology a utopian delusion that blinds us to social and personal reality? Does the information society actually disdain information? Have we anthropomorphized machines to the point where our institutions resemble them? Talbott neither expects that computers will vanish, nor believes they should. What he asks of us is to examine closely our own humanity. As much as computer believers may squirm, it's hard to elude the questions raised by this complex and intelligent book.

Product Description
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. Written by one of our editors, this book explores the networked computer as an expression of the darker, dimly conscious side of the human being. What we have been imparting to the Net -- or what the Net has been eliciting from us -- is a half-submerged, barely intended logic, contaminated by wishes and tendencies we prefer not to acknowledge. The urgent necessity is for us to wake up to what is most fully human and unmachinelike in ourselves, rather than yield to an ever more strangling embrace with our machines. The author's thesis is sure to raise a controversy among the millions of users now adapting themselves to the Net.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 500 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.; 1 edition (May 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565920856
• ISBN-13: 978-1565920859
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #535,245 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, if New-Agey. Read this book., January 18, 1998

By	Auliya "An Avid Reader" (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews

Hey. Listen. If you're going to choose among all the books that criticize computers and the Internet, this is, I promise, your best bet. Calm, rational, articulate, engaging, it manages to be *thoughtful* rather than ranting or over-emotional, which is a common problem that drowns and ultimately destroys the rhetoric of many of Talbott's peers. Talbott's final conclusion, woven beautifully from his collection of sensitive and thought-provoking essays, has everything to do with human beings as well as computers and the Internet: we should remain awake and aware of the subtle consequences of computer and communication technology. Talbott manages--through easy-going qualification and a rational, neutral attitude--to place himself in the role of a guide rather than a preacher. I can not recommend this book more highly.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A richly rewarding challenge to anyone in this computer age., May 20, 1996

By A Customer

Do you have the answers? Can you accept the answers? This book asks you questions, tough questions, about the very technology that put you on this page so you could read this review. Are computers going to redefine reality, or ruin reality? Is this an evolutionary step up the ladder, or a slide into an empty abyss? Do you see this as a great boon, or a simple electronic trick? Talbott's subject is the BIGGEST question ever asked - What does it mean to be a human being? In examining computers and the cyber-age, the author demands we answer this question. At the same time he insists we see how limiting the computer is as a human tool. The real questions and issues are about us, the creators and users of these idiot savants. This book eloquently challenges us to look at who or what is in control. We really have no choice but to face our answers.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for anyone living with technology, August 8, 2000

By	Kirk McElhearn "Computer book author and Fren... (A village in the French Alps) - See all my reviews

This book should be read by all those who live with the Internet and technology. While not exactly a Luddite (Talbott uses computers and the Internet a great deal), the author presents many reasons why we should not just accept the promises of a technological paradise without reflecting on its consequences.