Reflections on science, technology, and computing — leavened by personal experience


During the past fifty years, I have been privileged to see the digital revolution courtside, as well as play the game myself. It’s a journey from physical media – punched cards, paper tape, and typewritten documents – to digital media, high-speed computing (megaflops, gigaflops, teraflops, and petaflops), high-speed broadband, powerful consumer devices, and globe-spanning AI…

What national research strategy should the U.S. pursue in light of the coordination now present in other parts of the world? It is a question grounded in the ever-rising importance of information technology and innovation to global economic competitiveness.

In many parts of the western world, the frenzy of holiday shopping has reached its crescendo. In the U.S., it began with Black Friday, the day immediately after U.S. Thanksgiving. Not only is holiday shopping a major component of retail profits, financial analysts also use such consumer spending as a barometer of possible economic recovery.…

As many of us shopped online for holiday gifts, I also found myself thinking about the rise of effective electronic retailing from the Strum und Drang that was the dot.com boom and bust.