The Computer for the Twenty-First Centur

The Computer for the Twenty-First Century Perhaps key among them is privacy: hundreds of computers in every room, all capable of sensing people near them and linked by high-speed networks, have the potential to make totalitarian­ ism up to now seem like sheerest anar­ chy.

If de­ signed into systems from the outset, these techniques can ensure that private data do not become public. A well-im­ plemented version of ubiq tous com­ puting could even a ord better privacy protection   e sts today.

Tension: Will computers make us more present to each other and the world, or less (VR). 

Most important, ubiquitous comput­ ers    help overcome the problem of i ormation overload. There is more i ormation available at o   ngertips during a wa  in the woods than in any computer system, yet people  nd a walk among trees rela g and computers f s a ng. Mac es that  t the h an enviro ent  stead of forc g h ans to enter theirs    make using a com­ puter as refres ng as ta ng a walk   the woods.

[Computers are] approachable only through complex jargon that has not ng to do with the tasks for which people use computers. The state of the art is perhaps analo­ gous to the period when scribes had to know as much about ma ng   or baking clay as they  d about writing.