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UNIT 4
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND FUTURE OF IT
LEAD-IN
1 How do you think recent developments in
IT will affect the three areas of life mentioned
below in the next ten years? Compare your
predictions with other students in your group.
· commerce
· work
· the relationship between humans and computers
READING
2 Read the three opening paragraphs of the text below and answer the
following questions.
A How does the author justify his claim that we are 'in the midst of
convergence'?
B What will the difference be between computers and humans after 2015?
C What does he mean by a 'positive feedback loop' in computer development?
D Why will knowledge of a major language be the only IT skill needed?
E Which of the author's predictions do you think will come true?
THE FUTURE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
We are in the midst of convergence. (1) ____ At the applications layer, we
see convergence of information, entertainment, communications, shopping,
commerce, and education.
Computers have come from nowhere 50 years ago and are rapidly catching
up in capability with the human brain. We can expect human machine
equivalence by about 2015. (2) ____ There is a noticeable positive feedback
loop in technology development, with each generation of improved computers
giving us more assistance in the design and development of the next. Ultimately,
they will design their offspring with little or no human involvement. (3) ______ It
will be almost as though extraterrestrials had landed in 2020 and given us all
their advanced technology overnight.
But we will never get far unless we can solve the interface problem. In the
near future we may have electronic pets, with video camera eyes and
microphone ears, linked by radio to the family computer. (4) ___ We can tell the
pet what we want and it will sort it out for us. It will be impossible to be
technophobic about such an interface, and the only IT skill needed will be to
speak any major language.
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