WHERE'S IT GOING (PB) (last copies) (Prospects for Tomorrow S.) - Tapa blanda

An examination of the profound developments in information technology, predicting the seamless merging of communication, computing and consumer electronics in coming years. The authors are futurologists who explore the significance of these developments and their radical impact not only on business and economic systems but also on the very structure of society. Computers will talk to one another; new textiles will control the body's temperature; and smart buildings will monitor and alter heat, light, music, decoration and mood. People will work in local technology centres, while retail outlets will give way to personal agents who choose goods from the Internet. As networks link individuals far and wide, governments will find it harder to control what happens within their boundaries; sophisticated new surveillance techniques could threaten individual freedoms and cyberwars could wreak terrible technological destruction. Will we accept that our species could make a great evolutionary leap forward by becoming part human, part machine?

Ian Pearson is a futurologist at British Telecommunications Laboratories.