[CAnet - news] Computing, 2016: What Won't Be Possible?

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[From a posting by Ed Lazowska on Dave Farber's Iper list -- BSA]




Spurred by last week's CSTB meeting:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/31/science/31essa.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

October 31, 2006
ESSAY

Computing, 2016: What Won't Be Possible?

By STEVE LOHR

Computer science is not only a comparatively young field, but also one that
has had to prove it is really science. Skeptics in academia would often say
that after Alan Turing described the concept of the "universal machine" in
the late 1930's - the idea that a computer in theory could be made to do the
work of any kind of calculating machine, including the human brain - all
that remained to be done was mere engineering.

The more generous perspective today is that decades of stunningly rapid
advances in processing speed, storage and networking, along with the
development of increasingly clever software, have brought computing into
science, business and culture in ways that were barely imagined years ago.
The quantitative changes delivered through smart engineering opened the door
to qualitative changes.

Computing changes what can be seen, simulated and done. So in science,
computing makes it possible to simulate climate change and unravel the human
genome. In business, low-cost computing, the Internet and digital
communications are transforming the global economy. In culture, the
artifacts of computing include the iPod, YouTube and computer-animated
movies. What's next? That was the subject of a symposium in Washington this
month held by the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, which is
part of the National Academies and the nation's leading advisory board on
science and technology. Joseph F. Traub, the board's chairman and a
professor at Columbia University, titled the symposium "2016."

Computer scientists from academia and companies like I.B.M. and Google
discussed topics including social networks, digital imaging, online media
and the impact on work and employment. But most talks touched on two broad
themes: the impact of computing will go deeper into the sciences and spread
more into the social sciences, and policy issues will loom large, as the
technology becomes more powerful and more pervasive. <snip>

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/

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