Computers were originally just supposed to be number-crunchers, but now their number-crunching has been harnessed in a thousand im...aginative ways to create new virtual machines, such as video games and word processors, in which the underlying number-crunching is almost invisible, and in which new powers seem quite magical. Our brains, similarly, weren't designed (except for some very recent peripheral organs) for word processing, but now a large portion--perhaps even the lion's share--of the activity that takes place in adult human brains is involved in a sort of word processing: speech production and comprehension, and the serial rehearsal and rearrangement of linguistic items, or better, their neural surrogates. And these activities magnify and transform the underlying hardware powers in ways that seem (from the "outside") quite magical.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Latin America can no longer tolerate being a haven for United States liberals who cannot make their point at home, an outlet for a...postles too "apostolic" to find their vocation as competent professionals within their own community. The hardware salesman threatens to dump second-rate imitations of parishes, schools and catechisms--out-moded even in the United States--all around the continent. The traveling escapist threatens further to confuse a foreign world with his superficial protests, which are not viable even at home.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A friend of mine spoke of books that are dedicated like this: "To my wife, by whose helpful criticism ..." and so on. He said the ...dedication should really read: "To my wife. If it had not been for her continual criticism and persistent nagging doubt as to my ability, this book would have appeared in Harper's instead of The Hardware Age."LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
As I pursued my bodily functions, wanting Neither fire nor water,... Vibrating to the distant pinch And turning out the way I am, turning out to greet you.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »