Too Soon To Tell: Essays for the End of The Computer Revolution

by David A. Grier

• ISBN13: 9780470422397
• ISBN10: 0470422394
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2009-03-01
• Publisher: Wiley-IEEE Computer Society Pr

Summary

Based on author David A. Grier's column "In Our Time," which runs monthly in Computer magazine, Too Soon To Tell presents a collection of essays skillfully written about the computer age, an era that began February 1946. Examining ideas that are both contemporary and timeless, these chronological essays examine the revolutionary nature of the computer, the relation between machines and human institutions, and the connections between fathers and sons to provide general readers with a picture of a specific technology that attempted to rebuild human institutions in its own image.

Table of Contents

Preface: To Have Been Young in that Hour

The Computer Era (1946-1973)

Out of Position

Seymour Cray's Cat

Songs of Comfort and Joy

Life on the Frontier

Museum Pieces

The Curve of Innovation

Public Image

The Enduring Myth of Hardware

Choosing Our Way

Friend of the Band

Family Portrait

The Age of Information (1974-1987)

Coming of Age

Riding with Bohannon

The Language of Bad Love

Common Knowledge

Conflict-Free Memories

On the Right Side of the Road

Fork in the Path

The Best Deal in Town

Crossing the Divide

Auditions

Annie and the Boys

Mergers and Divestitures

Old Bottles

The Days of Cyberspace: (1986-2007)

Alley Life

On the Camino Real

Dirty Electricity

Because We Were Different

A Winter of Hope and a Spring of Despair

Coming into the Country

Outposts

The Captured Imagination

Shutdown

Force of Nature

Ever Onward! Thanks for Asking!

Emailing from Armenia

The Boundaries of Time

Counting Beans

The Eyes of the World

The Lay of the Land

Circle of Light

Beyond the Horizon

Epilogue: Indicator Lamps

Disclaimers, References and Notes

Index

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