In this book, Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab and columnist for Wired argues that we are moving into a post-information age where bits are more important than atoms. Digital transmissions that are instantaneous and inexpensive move information around the globe at the speed of light.
Negroponte predicts that the television set will eventually be superseded by the personal computer and that by 2005 Americans will log more hours on the Internet (or whatever it might be called) than they do watching television. This media wizard also has some interesting things to say about the future of the videocassette rental business, the versatility of CD-ROMs, the thirst for new kinds of electronic games, the expansion of teleconferencing, the multiple uses of e-mail, and experimentation with hypermedia that mixes chunks of video, audio, and other data.
Negroponte hits high stride in Being Digital when he discusses high-tech computers which will serve as "digital butlers" able to collect and personalize data according to each individual's information needs, entertainment predilections, and social behavior. This would be a dream come true for those who feel time-starved and overwhelmed by the tasks of sorting and processing information.
Although Negroponte acknowledges that this digital revolution would mean the further loss of millions of jobs, he points to positive spin-offs such as the decentralization of organizations, the globalization of information, the harmonization of interests, and the empowerment of individuals who are given what he calls "the access, the mobility and the ability to affect change." The same children who are now leading their parents into the realm of CD-ROMs will be tomorrow's pioneers in this expanded digital world.