Technology alone is not enough

Abstract

Many have traced the evolution of information transfer from drawings on
\nthe walls of caves to inscriptions on stone tablets, to scribes writing on
\npapyrus or other early forms of paper, to "Gutenberg technology." By now
\nit has become trite to mention that computer and electronic communications
\ntogether represent another revolution in the transfer and utilization
\nof knowledge. Yet I mention it because we have only scratched the surface
\nin understanding and using these mechanisms for supporting human
\nlearning and for facilitating human decision-making.
\nWe are rapidly approaching the point at which the mechanical and
\ninherent cost impediments of media and mechanisms for information
\ntransfer and knowledge production will disappear as limitations to reaching
\nthe full potential of information systems. With these impediments out
\nof the way, what is left to inhibit knowledge creation and dissemination are
\nthe arrangements necessary to derive the revenue for supporting the information
\nprocessing, distribution and use mechanisms, and, most of all, the
\nlimitations of human intelligence to deal with complex situations.