The Impact of the Information Age on Society
             I have, since my earliest memories, been fascinated by the rapid advancements in science and technology. I have seen, in the course of the last 40+ years, our ability to affect the world around us in almost any way we desire, and I have also seen changes to major segments of humanity made through the application of power, without thought to long term consequences.
             In addressing the impact of the Information Age on society in general, we must consider the three main mechanisms of the information exchange process as it exists today. They are the personal computer, the Internet, and the human mind. All three are capable of perceiving and representing the world as pure information, and the rate at which that information can be processed and transmitted is increasing rapidly.
             About forty years ago, I began to read science fiction books. Inexpensive paperbacks filled with stories about interstellar travel, time machines, and computers. I can vividly recall one passage that forever altered the way I would think about computers. Picture, if you will, a bank of keyboards and a host of "scientists" working on those keyboards like concert pianists. Cranking out tremendous mathematical computations hundreds of times faster than a human could think.
             It was in that vision of computer programmers working their devices like fine tuned instruments that I first began to perceive the possibility of the artistic aspects of computing and programming.
             In the intervening years, other images of information manipulation and exchange added color to my perception of computing: strangely enough, Herman Hesse's "Magister Ludi" was a perfect example. In this story, abstract concepts would be premised, and equally obstructing arguments would be laid out for evaluation. Each point and counter point would be woven into a loom of beads, which were used, much like an abacus, to represent the relati...