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The New Renaissance: Computers and the Next Level of Civilization Hardcover – September 17, 1998

by Douglas S. Robertson (Author)

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The electronic computer, argues Douglas Robertson, is the most important invention in the history of technology, if not all history It has already set off an information explosion that has changed many facets of civilization beyond recognition. These changes have ushered in nothing less than the dawn of a new level of civilization.
In The New Renaissance, Robertson offers an important historical perspective on the computer revolution, by comparing it to three earlier landmarks of human development--language, writing, and printing. We see how these three inventions changed how we capture, store, and distribute information, and how each thereby triggered an information explosion that transformed society, ushering in a new civilization utterly unlike anything before. But history has never seen a revolution on the scale of the one being sparked by computers today. What can we expect from the most important technological breakthrough in human history? Robertson lays out possible scenarios regarding transformations in science and mathematics, education, language, the arts, and everyday life. School children, for instance, will forsake pencil and paper for keyboard and calculator, much as their forebears forsook clay tablets and abaci for pencil and paper. In films, the computer simulations of Jurassic Park could be eclipsed by "synthespians," artificial actors indistinguishable from living ones.
Whether one is a computer enthusiast, a popular science buff, or simply someone fascinated by the future, The New Renaissance provides a breathtaking peek at the magnitude of changes we can expect as the full power of computers is unleashed.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Douglas Robertson knows perfectly well that trying to predict the future is difficult enough at any time. In a period of extreme technological change, with great social change fast on its heels, accurate prediction is a dice toss at best. But that doesn't stop him from trying to convey the scope of changes coming.

In The New Renaissance, Robertson begins by looking at how previous, pivotal communications advancements have remade society. He considers, for example, the revolutions that came about with the creations of language, writing, and printing. He argues that advances in scientific theory--from mathematics to cosmology--have transformed our world. He then demonstrates the increasing rate of transformation brought on by computers and concludes that the computer revolution may be the most dramatic of them all. Finally, he looks at some of the potential problems tomorrow's civilization may have to solve, while admitting that some of his speculations should be taken with a grain of salt. Will the world of dance, for example, ever be dominated by computer-generated performers of infinite grace? Perhaps not. But Robertson's goal is not to showcase the true future so much as to demonstrate the level of change coming. In that regard, he provides ample food for thought. --Elizabeth Lewis

From Publishers Weekly

So much printer toner has been spilled on the computer revolution that no one should be surprised to find that the future has arrived, its little green LCD eyes gleaming. We're reminded that microprocessors are found in dishwashers, VCRs and wristwatches, and that home banking, cellular phone communication and inventory control at the grocery check-out counter are electronically mediated. Good stories could certainly be found in the details?growth of computer crime, use of computers in dance, computers as aids to the handicapped and much more, but University of Colorado geologist and environmentalist Robertson doesn't really flesh these topics out, preferring to spend more time on theory. He divides civilizations into five levels based on how they handle information (0 is pre-language; 1, language; 2, writing; 3, printing; and 4, computers) and draws comparisons. For example, modern accelerator experiments in high-energy physics generate in five minutes as much data as was in the whole Library of Alexandria in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. He also discusses mathematical paradoxes and the limits to scientific knowledge, advocates the use of "quartal" rather than our out-moded decimal number system, and lays out requirements for a stripped-down "universal language." He believes that instructional computer games will revitalize education, and that famine, pestilence, poverty, war, illiteracy and tolerance can be reduced with a massive influx of information. Which would be nice, but seems a little naive.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product details

Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1st edition (September 17, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0195121899
ISBN-13: 978-0195121896
Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.7 x 8.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 5 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,908,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #642 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Computers & Technology
- #4413 in Books > Computers & Technology > History & Culture
- #19214 in Books > Science & Math > History & Philosophy

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Best Nontechnical Book for Exploring Computer Potential

November 13, 1999

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

As a nonscientist who is deeply interested in how computers will advance our ability to lead productive, meaningful, and rewarding lives, I found this book to be very provocative and helpful. Instead of looking only at business or computer science, the author extends in many different directions to consider how computers could change the potential, fabric, and value of our lives. Not being knowledgeable in some of the fields, I found it helpful to have a tour guide who could explain what remains to be done in terms of problem solving and creating better mouse traps. While no one person can be expected to anticipate such an exciting and unpredictable future very well, the author does a great job of referring to many of my favorite works on how computer technology can transform the way we do things like education, entertainment, and so forth. Anyone who has ever enjoyed reading science fiction to help imagine what could come in the future will find this book rewarding. I found the work solid except with regard to population growth, where the author failed to put two and two together. The rise of education and income has a very depressing effect on the birth rate, so much so that demographers argue that the economically developed countries should have declining populations by the middle of next century. Eventually, this trend will spread more broadly to the rest of the world, and should be complete before the end of the next century. But I leave that for you to consider. I strongly urge you to read and enjoy this outstanding book. The excerpt that you can access by clicking on the excerpt button above on the left of this page on Amazon.com is well worth your time, and you will want to read the whole book after you have looked at that chapter. I thought that this exerpted chapter was the best multidisciplinary description of the implications of computers compared to past information explosions that I have seen. One of the strengths of this book is that it points to the untapped potential of computers rather than just focusing on what the best practices of the past have been. The woods are full of the later, and they are dated by the time they are published -- especially most of the Internet books. You have a real treat in front of you, which should inspire you to make more practical use of computers to advance what you care about.

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Wayne Radinsky

Unique perspective on what causes transformations in civilization

April 25, 2007

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

There are two great things to say about this book: First, Doug has done some truly unique research into the information processing capacity of previous civilizations. This is eye-opening in and of itself. But, second, Doug explains how these increases in information processing capacity lead to abrupt "phase changes" -- transitions in the fundamental structure of civilization. For example the transition from monarchy to democracy -- only possible with the printing press, and not before, or the scientific revolution, and the industrial revolution, again not possible before the invention of the printing press. He uses this to predict a "phase change" in the future as a result of the computer revolution -- that's why he says the invention computer is the beginning of (a new) civilization. He doesn't speculate much on what this future will look like, only saying the world after previous "phase changes" was impossible based on what came before, and this one should be no different. I give the book "4" stars because he goes off on quite a few pointless tangents -- his writing style improves noticably in his second book, "Phase Change". But even though Doug's books were not bestsellers, I belive everyone in the futurist community should read this book and "Phase Change" (which basically expands the chapters on the future of math and science into another whole book). I say futurists should read these books because futurists talk endlessly about Moore's Law and exponential change and exponential "progress" -- but "progress" does not occur as a smooth curve, exponential or otherwise. Instead, information processing capacity increases "in the background", but every so to cause an abrupt "phase change" to explode out of nowhere and utterly restructure society. Historians almost never mention the role of information technology in these revolutions. Doug's book is the first I've seen to zero in on this concept and convince you that it really happens. After reading Doug's book you will stop expecting the future to be a smooth extrapolation of the present (either linear or exponential, as promulgated by futurists such as Ray Kurzweil), and instead start thinking about what discontinuities/ruptures/surprises future "phase changes" might bring -- how civilization could be restructured into something unrecognizable from the world we live in today. I believe this is an important shift in perspective. Doug's thinking style is highly influenced by mathematics, so if you enjoy math and thinking in a logical, rigorous manner, you will enjoy Doug's books.

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A Solid "Briefing" on Basic Issues

June 7, 2001

Format: Hardcover

To a majority of executives in organizations, Robertson offers a remarkably well-organized and well-written "briefing" on computer technologies which can help them to formulate appropriate strategies and tactics to compete more effectively. I do not damn with faint praise when pointing out that very little of the material in the book is new, earth-shaking, etc. But it is rock-solid. Robertson examines the evolution of language, the accumulation and evaluation of information enabled by language, modes of communication by which to share that information, and new technologies which create almost unlimited opportunities to communicate with almost anyone, anywhere, and at any time. My strong suggestion to those who purchase this book is that they read it in combination with Borgmann's Holding On to Reality and Pinker's The Language Instinct and How the Mind Works.

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The New Renaissance: Computers and the Next Level of Civilization Hardcover – September 17, 1998

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