Neil Gershenfeld

Best—selling author Neil Gershenfeld asserts that the digital revolution has definitely favored computers and not the people who use them. Computer gurus describe computers with endless speed, Internet entertainment, and learning that is only a click away. But for the ordinary person, writes Gershenfeld, computers are still frustrating boxes that do not enhance life. Gershenfeld, who leads the Physics and Media Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab and directs the Things That Think research consortium, believes people should expect more from their computers. He concludes that these machines should work harder to do what people want and to perform their tasks as easily and invisibly as possible.