Talking Back to the Machine : Computers and Human Aspiration [Hardcover]

Peter J. Denning (Editor), J. Burke (Introduction)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0387984135 | ISBN-13: 978-0387984131 | Publication Date: June 4, 1999 | Edition: 1

From one of the editors of the renowned book Beyond Calculation, acclaimed by The New York Times for its "astonishing intellectual reach", comes a new collection of equal brilliance. Focusing on the impact of computers on humans, Talking Back to the Machine features essays on how computers will affect the ways we live, learn, teach, communicate, and relate to each other in the coming decades. Outstanding contemporary thinkers describe the myriad ways, both good and bad, in which our lives will be altered by information technology, and what we can do to influence these changes. Talking Back to the Machine is a must-read for anyone who is interested in technology and society.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a compelling book...I think everyone will take away from this book a particular vision that captures their imagination...." -- Nature

"...a useful, interdisciplinary benchmark of the ever-evolving state of computer capability...." -- Computers in Physics

About the Author

Peter J. Denning is associate dean for computing and chair of the Computer Science Department in the School of Information Technology and Engineering at George Mason University. He was formerly the founding director of the Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science at the NASA Ames Research Center, and the president of the Association for Computing Machinery 1980-82.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 217 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (June 4, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387984135
• ISBN-13: 978-0387984131
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,799,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter Denning was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Darien, Connecticut. He was interested in science from an early age and began building electronic circuits as a teenager. His computer built from pinball machine parts won the science fair in 1959, launching him into the new field of computing. At MIT for his doctorate in 1968, he worked on prototypes of computer utilities, precursors of today's "cloud computing". He became an educator and taught computer science at Princeton, Purdue, George Mason University, and Naval Postgraduate School. He was a pioneer in operating systems and computer networks and invented the "working set", a way of automatically managing data flows in memory that is widely used in modern operating systems from desktops to smartphones. A strong advocate of computing as a domain of science on par with the traditional physical, life, and social sciences, he has codified the Great Principles of Computing. In the 1980s, while directing a research lab at NASA Ames Research Center, he became interested in how he could teach his students and researchers to be successful innovators, broadening his attentions to the human practices of technology adoption. He has won over two dozen awards for his work in computing science and education. He is a past president of ACM, the oldest scientific society in computing.