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.


From Booklist
How significant is the computer revolution? Even more important, University of Colorado geological studies professor Robertson urges, than language, writing, and printing, three earlier inventions with which he contrasts it. Just as those new methods of capturing, storing, and delivering information profoundly changed civilization, the astonishing capabilities of computers will radically restructure science and mathematics, education, the arts, and everyday life. In one chapter, Robertson indulges his fondness for abstract mathematics with a formula-laden description of "uncomputable numbers," but his other chapters offer straightforward analysis of the probable impact of computers on specific disciplines and practical functions. Some of Robertson's suggestions are likely to be controversial: for example, he proposes changes in language and a shift from decimal to quartal (not binary) numeration. Not an essential acquisition, this should appeal to readers seeking a fairly realistic advance glimpse of the lay of the land on the other end of that bridge to the twenty-first century. Mary Carroll


Book Description
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.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In The New Renaissance, Robertson offers an important historical perspective on the computer revolution by comparing it to three earlier landmarks of human invention - language, writing, and printing. We see how each of these inventions changed the way we produce, store, and distribute information, and how each one thereby triggered an information explosion that transformed human civilization. But the electronic computer has touched off the largest information explosion yet. It is therefore the most important invention in the history of technology, if not in all history. 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.

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