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Creating The People’s Computer

April 1997

One of the nation´s foremost computer scientists, exasperated by the unfriendliness of today´s computer systems, suggests what designers can do to make machines serve human needs—rather than the other way around.

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Features

  • During total eclipses of the sun, at least one ancient culture performed mass human sacrifice to placate the gods. While our understanding of these celestial phenomena has grown, the author rediscovers the scientific curiosity they engender.
  • Categorized in 17035

    Defusing Airline Terrorism

    A variety of high-tech bomb detectors are under study, but certification, cost, and privacy dilemmas could keep them from your local airport.
  • Categorized in 17032

    Dividing the Water

    Water may seem to be everywhere, but for a rising portion of the world’s population, there may soon be hardly a drop to drink -or to use for growing food, supporting industries and cities, and preserving life-giving ecosystems.
  • Categorized in 17036

    An Artist Explores the Lab

    A recent photography exhibit goes behind the closed doors of major laboratories to shed fascinating light on the research shaping modern life.

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