Preface

ix

We are as gods and might as well get good at it.

—STEWART BRAND, opening sentence of the Whole Earth Catalog (1968)

Most people feel certain that the pace of technological change increases exponentially. They think that the Internet and personal computers are only the most prominent of the many innovations that surge around us and that new ones arrive ever faster. They’re certain that never before has the social impact of technological change been as profound or as pervasive as it is today.

But they are wrong.

The Internet isn’t that big a deal. Neither is the PC. Abandon all technology and live in the woods for a week and see if it’s your laptop you miss most. In fact, the technologies most important to us are the older ones—the ...

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