No matter where we turn, whether in the news media, popular culture, or simple conversation, we seem increasingly preoccupied with the notion that computers and communication technology are dramatically transforming society and culture. Advocates typically claim we’re going through a period as significant as the development of agriculture—which transformed us from a nomadic hunting and gathering way of life about ten thousand years ago. Or they claim it’s as significant as the development of industry—which made manufacturing rather than farming central to modern economic and social life beginning about three hundred years ago.