Rare for a conference to generate readable books, but editor Peter Denning
has contrived a second from the golden jubilee conference of the Association for
Computing Machinery. In Talking back to the machine, iconoclast Bruce
Sterling tells everyone to get out and have some fun away from, as well as with,
their computers. Murray Gell-Mann urges us to work the Santa Fe way (networks
rule), and Microsoft’s guru Nathan Myhrvold says software’s a gas (it expands to
fit the container it’s in). Trained in theatre and now working in computers,
Brenda Laurel threatens the male stakes in cyberspace with her virtual worlds,
and recommends letting rip with creative impulses. Published by Copernicus,
£19/$27, ISBN 0387984135.
More from New Scientist
Explore the latest news, articles and features

Mind
What to read this week: The 21st Century Brain by Hannah Critchlow
Culture

ÎçÒ¹¸£Àû1000¼¯ºÏ
Long covid reveals the harm of one-size-fits-all medical treatment
Leader

Space
Ann Leckie continues to shine with new sci-fi novel Radiant Star
Culture

Comment
Is an AI version of Mark Zuckerberg – or any boss – a good plan?
Regulars
Popular articles
Trending New Scientist articles
1
Weird 'transdimensional' state of matter is neither 2D nor 3D
2
Is consciousness more fundamental to reality than quantum physics?
3
100-year-old assumption about the universe may soon be overturned
4
How I pay almost nothing to power my house and electric car
5
Why the keto diet could be a revolutionary way to treat mental illness
6
The bombshell results that demand a new theory of the universe
7
Why birds are the only surviving dinosaurs
8
We may finally have a cure for many different autoimmune conditions
9
Cancer is increasing in young people and we still don't know why
10
Why dinosaurs lived much more complex lives than we thought