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September 11, 2006
The Meaning of the 21 Century
I read a good part of James Martin's The Meaning of the 21st Century last week. I haven't quite finished, but so far I'd say it's a good book for your school library, but not worth buying a personal copy. I think Kurweil is so much better (though more narrowly focused).
Martin joins Kurzweil in the intelligent machine theme:
"Most people associate the growth of computing with the 20th Century, but the true computer revolution is yet to come --- with ubiquitous sensors, nanotechnology, global data warehouses and whole pervasive access to networks of extreme bandwidth. The main reason the true computer revolution is ahead of us is that machines will become intelligent..." Martin, Meaning of the 21 Century, p. 164
For 40 years we've been saying, "After years of explosive growth, the computer industry is finally in its infancy." Probably just an implication of Moore's law?
But, when you consider the low level of IS enrollments, things do seem out of whack. Surely, if Kurzweil and Martin and others in that camp are even partially right, there will be incredible opportunities for IT/IS savvy business professionals to find and exploit innovative IT/IS applications.
Maybe our discipline needs to follow the UT, Austin model (below) and rethink the whole curriculum, from a marketing perspective. What will IS majors needs to know in the age of the intelligent machine? How do we even begin to answer that question?
Posted by DavidK at September 11, 2006 07:09 PM | Permalink