The debate about computers and intelligence must go on - we have more to learn, and more people need to convert their strong opinions to measured arguments. There is no reason to panic, however. ...

To jumpstart this symposium, Espen Andersen describes the debate surrounding "technological singularity" and questions whether this is something that will happen---and if so, what the consequences might be.

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The evolution from an interactive Internet (often called Web 2.0) toward a more intelligent, semantic web will not happen as a result of dramatic new inventions or jointly agreed standards, but through a gradual evolution and recombination of existing technologies. To get to a Web 3.0, we will need to first create (and maybe be satisfied with) a Web 2.5, and that will happen through the gradual evolution of effective, user-based interaction protocols (based on user dialogues) and the use of queries as information passing mechanisms.

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How we organize computing - and innovate with it - is shaped by what at any time is the most scarce resource. In the early days of computing, processing (and, to a certain extent, storage, which up to a point is a substitute for processing) was the main scarce resource. Computers were expensive and weak, so you had to organize what you did with them to make as much out of the processing capacity as possible. Hence, with the early computers, much time was spent making sure the process was fully used, by meticulously allocating time for users on the machine - first with scheduled batch processing, then with time-sharing operating systems that rationed processing resources to users based on need and budget. ...

Of all the sayings I dislike, the most vapid is one I have heard as long as I have been working with IT: We will have the paperless toilet before we have a paperless office. Normally uttered with a dry cackle and a finger pointed towards my office, which does not lack for paper. ...

Time to end personal technology serfdom! I hate company-specific technology standards, at least those that specify technology in terms other than file formats, access protocols and application programming interfaces. In most companies I am in touch with, employees get a laptop and a cell phone and are required to use a set of standard capabilities of some sort. More often than not these are unnecessarily complicated, old-fashioned, expensive and singularly uninspiring. This is often for good reasons: The IT department wants to make things manageable for themselves and for the organization, and employees need to have a standard frame of reference and a compatible set of tools for work. The helpdesk can figure out which keys to press and the employees can see the same screens. Well and good, but the users are beginning to rebel at the lack of options especially those they have on their own or former computers. ...

The mobile phone has caused us to plan less and communicate more. The Internet causes us to categorize less and search more - and media's increasing Internet nervousness is driven not just by fear of diminishing revenues but from the fear of a loss of importance of categorization. When everybody can find everything and networked computers determine what is relevant, media companies lose their ability to create agendas. To maintain their influence, they will need to let the Internet shape their main products, not desperately try to keep the world as it is. ...

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Microsoft is the chief target of accusations of unfair competition, buggy software, and general conspiracy theories. The company could learn a few tricks from an old dog like IBM. ...

Telecom strategy 101: In network markets, use network marketing ...

Contrary to what you think, now is the time to study IT. Just make sure you are interested in the content of the field rather than its future trappings. ...

The future belongs to small, connected devices that will wirelessly allow the user -- and the technology -- to self-organize, creating something smart out of many small and simple nodes and connections. ...

Technology virginity and technology virgins are everywhere -- and more influential than you might like. Time to go on the offensive. ...

Companies will need to make themselves components of their customers' lives rather than trying to make customers a component of their organizations. To do this, they need to stop kidding themselves when it comes to electronic integration. ...

Distributed problem solving on the cheap ...

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