The only operational Soviet time-sharing systems are incorporated in special-purpose, fixed-application installations, most of which are intended for industrial applications of process control or management information. Despite the peculiar suitability of time-sharing to the Soviet economic system, with its heavy reliance on centralized planning…

Reviews M.B. DeBevoise's "Conversations on Mind, Matter, and Mathematics," (a book of translated conversations between Jean-Pierre Changeux and Alain Connes), which explores the question of whether a machine could reproduce the activity of the human brain. Explains how mathematics might be able to mediate between mind and matter. (DDR)

A 100-year scenario of the future of information technology. To achieve inexpensive, high-speed, and small computers, new techniques are likely to replace silicon technology. The ultimate computer might be biological and patterned on DNA. Future computers will require information rather than store it. Light wave communication will broaden…

Using survey research methodology in rating "believability" of computers, this study concludes that English Canadians tend to find computers more credible than do French Canadians. The two variables that affected the subjects' attitudes were an affectively positive awareness of the computer's pragmatic abilities and an affectively…

Discusses current issues in the design of information systems, noting contributions from three professions--computer science, human factors engineering, and information science. The eclectic nature of human factors engineering and the difficulty of drawing together studies with human engineering or software psychological components from diverse…

Research findings indicate that major breakthroughs in education will have to occur through direct cortical intervention, using either chemical or electronic means. It will eventually be possible to build sophisticated intelligence amplifiers that will be internal extensions of our brains, significantly more powerful than present day computers,…

It has been claimed that in the near future computers and their accompanying new technology will solve the outstanding problems of education. The authors believe that the problems of implementation, costs, and reliability may slow if not prevent the rapid assimilation of the new educational technology into the average school system. They also…

An issue of "Soviet Cybernetics: Recent News Items" consists of English translations of the leading recent Soviet contributions to the study of cybernetics. Articles deal with cybernetics in the 21st Century; the Soviet State Committee on Science and Technology; economic reforms in Rudnev's ministry; an interview with Rudnev; Dnepr-2; Dnepr-2…