Communication technologies that will change our lives.

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Science & Technology

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Communication technologies that will change our lives.

COMMUNICATION ERA undertakings dominate postindustrial economies. Since the late 1970s, knowledge, information, education, and entertainment enterprises in the U.S. have accounted for over 50% of all jobs. Today, this group of activities generate about 66% of jobs and Gross Domestic Product. These calculations vary, depending upon what is counted. One thing about this era is clear, though--brains, not brawn, have become the key resource.

Computers, ranging from massive supercomputers to ubiquitous handheld "personal assistant" PCs, are the economic linchpin. The current information revolution ushered in a vast new range of services: pay cable TV; interactive television; teleconferencing; video recording; electronic funds transfer systems, shopping, and mail; facsimile newspapers and specialized magazines on video; electronic plebiscites on vital public policy issues; automatic home security services (fire, police, flood, storm, etc.); special services for the handicapped; and home computers to handle a vast growing range of activities.

Solid-state devices, microelectronics, computers, and communications equipment of all kinds are today's economic mainsprings. Computer household penetration rose from 27% in 1990 to 51% in 2001. Integrated circuit chips fashioned from flyspecks of rare earths and traces of silicon marshal knowledge and information that can change the fate of a business or an empire.

Better communication means have been introduced throughout history. Improved methods of communication displace the less-effective and become the dominant mode. Spoken words preceded the handwritten word, which gave way to the mechanically printed word, that was eclipsed by the telegraph and telephone. Four major communication modes, each one more efficient than the precedi...

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