Technologists tend to be optimists, filled with wonder at the miracles that new technologies can bring about. But like my favorite cartoon character Wily Coyote, who always exuberantly believes that the latest technology from the Acme Corporation will bring the Roadrunner down, technologists often become victims of their own devices.
Every technology seems to introduce nearly as many problems as it solves.
In my role as co-chair of President Clinton's Advisory Committee on Information Technology, I am acutely aware of this phenomenon. The charge of our committee is to advise the President and Congress on the steps the Federal Government should be taking now to ensure that information technology in the twenty-first century meets the needs of our society. One of the most important of those needs is education. Accordingly, the President two years ago established the goal of networking every high school, middle school, and elementary school in the nation to the National Information Infrastructure. A major long-term goal of this initiative is to improve education.