MCS-170 The Nature of Computer Science

The Impact of Computers on Society



1. The Information Revolution

"In the first wave, wealth was land, and it was exclusive; if I grew rice on my acres, you could not."
"In the second wave, wealth diversified into three factors of production: land, labor, and capital. However, production drained a company of resources."

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A central theme of the industrial regime was centralization and standardization."
"In the third wave, wealth is knowledge. Microsoft is not drained of its resources when it ships a package of Windows 95. The land, muscle, and money in Redmond, Washington, are not the source of the company's wealth; the knowledge of its software developers is."

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Technology took a sharp turn away from standardization and toward individuation and diversity."

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In a not-always-pleasant way, the third wave began decentralizing the machine heart. Today is a time of transition, in which we witness the curious spectacle of massive second-wave-type enterprises adapting to the third-wave appetite for differentiation."

"A
third-wave predicament is Overchoice."

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The regime of the smokestacks has been toppled forever. What remains is still frothing and changing its shape. It is a whole new era, with dangers and opportunities uniquely its own."

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We are not currently in Toffler's third wave; we are still in transition between the second and third waves, and that is why the implications of the transformation are not immediately obvious."

(from http://www.skypoint.com/members/mfinley/toffler.htm)

2. Benefits of the Information Revolution

3. Possible Dangers of an Information Society

4. Conclusion - Is IT Revolution Good or Bad?