And when someone arrives home, calls can be automatically switched to the wired system of the house. The consequences of all of this are probably beyond the reach of most of us to imagine. Vanderbilt's Gavis predicts, as many others do, that corporations and other institutions will fire many of their managers. With more sophisticated communications, a single manager can supervise many more employees. Corporations will become smaller and less hierarchical.
Thinkers worry about solitude.
But there's an obverse view. Most people involved in the industry have a passionate faith that the technology will empower people. On a simple level, George Gilder believes people's relationship to their phones will no longer be so passive. We get up in the middle of dinner and answer and let it invade our lives in all sorts of ways. Or they may simply push a button that messages that they will call back.