Autonomic Computing

It's All About Speed

There are examples in this book showing how hard it is to predict the speed of technological advance or its effect on social or commercial life. Space travel. Cloning. Cures for cancer. The search for clean, renewable energy sources. The sense of apprehension in the last days of 1999 arose from the fact that while most experts believed the “Y2K bug” would not shut down computer systems, no one really could be sure.

Several years into the future, when we can look back on the early in the 21st century, we may determine that “speed” is the one word that stands above other possible descriptors for this time.

1. Speed, as in the rate at which new ideas are transmitted to every corner of the globe.

2. Speed, as in the rapidity with which ...