When Things Start to Think (edit title)

Shelfari edited the description of When Things Start to Think Friday, July 31 2009.

• This is a book for people who want to know what the future is going to look like and for people who want to know how to create the future. Gershenfeld offers a glimpse at the brave new post-computerized world, where microchips work for us instead of against us. He argues that we waste the potential of the microchip when we confine it to a box on our desk: the real electronic revolution will come when computers have all but disappeared into the walls around us. Imagine a digital book that looks like a traditional book printed on paper and is pleasant to read in bed but has all the mutability of a screen display. How about a personal fabricator that can organize digitized atoms into anything you want, or a musical keyboard that can be woven into a denim jacket? Gershenfeld tells the story of his Things that Think group at MIT's Media Lab, the group of innovative scientists and researchers dedicated to integrating digital technology into the fabric of our lives.

Shelfari edited the contributors of When Things Start to Think Wednesday, July 22 2009.

• Added a contributor: Neil A. Gershenfeld: (Primary Author)

Shelfari edited the first sentence of When Things Start to Think Friday, July 17 2009.

• To a species that seeks to communicate, offering instantaneous global connectivity is like wiring the pleasure center of a rat's brain to a bar that the rat then presses over and over until it drops from exhaustion.