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Review of "Computers and the Cybernetic Society by Michael A. Arbib"; Academic Press, New York, 1977

Published: 01 April 1978 Publication History

Abstract

Courses on computers and society are usually intended for students who have not necessarily ever learned to program a computer. The author of a textbook must therefore spend a lot a time teaching about the technical details of computing (the important issues of the course are usually met about the midterm point!), and then proceed on that half-semester intuitive basis to discuss data banks, electronic fund transfer, digital watches, automated warfare, and calculators. Most of these books are written by computer scientists rather than social scientists and therefore tend to have a passable technical half and an awful to mediocre social half.

References

[1]
Braverman, Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century, Monthly Review Press, New York, 1974
[2]
Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, William Morrow, New York, 1974
[3]
Weizenbaum, Computer Power and Human Reason, W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, 1976

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Published In

cover image ACM SIGART Bulletin
ACM SIGART Bulletin Just Accepted
April 1978
1 pages
ISSN:0163-5719
DOI:10.1145/1045402
Issue’s Table of Contents

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 April 1978
Published in SIGAI , Issue 65

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