
The Global Course of the Information Revolution: Technological Trends
Proceedings of an International Conference
Free Electronic Option
Note: Many electronic documents posted prior to 2003 are available as chapter PDFs or HTML files linked from the Contents.
Reports on a conference sponsored by the National Intelligence Council in May 2000 that concentrated on technical trends in the information revolution, focusing in particular on the resulting new artifacts and services that might become widespread during the next 20 years. Participants saw a convergence of voice and data communications and a quantum jump in bandwidth during the next two decades, along with limited machine translation. A multitude of diverse, powerful, inexpensive sensors and devices capable of limited-distance wireless communications will come onto the market and computing and information systems will become much more ubiquitous, with convergence of wireless telephones, voice and e-mail messaging, and smart appliances. A likely shift in business emphasis from products to services will have an impact in such areas as health care, education, entertainment, and supply-chain management. Participants also discussed individual and societal tensions that could arise from these developments, such as battles between advocates of “open” and “closed” worlds of protocols and standards, and the threats to intellectual property rights and to individual privacy.
Table of Contents
Preface PDF
Figures
Figures and Tables PDF
Summary PDF
Acknowledgments PDF
Acronyms PDF
Chapter One
Introduction PDF
Chapter Two
Future Visions PDF
Chapter Three
Observations on Future Trends PDF
Chapter Four
Technology Trends and Artifacts PDF
Chapter Five
Services PDF
Chapter Six
Markets PDF
Chapter Seven
Beyond Cyberspace PDF
Chapter Eight
Some Observations on the Group Reports PDF
Chapter Nine
Concluding Remarks PDF
Chapter Ten
What Comes Next PDF
Appendix A
Predicting the Unpredictable: Technology and Society PDF
Appendix B
Conference Participants PDF
Appendix C
Conference Agenda PDF
Bibliography PDF
Research conducted by
This report is part of the RAND Corporation conference proceeding series. RAND conference proceedings present a collection of papers delivered at a conference or a summary of the conference.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.