As one contemplates how email and the internet have changed our culture over the past ten years, it's a bit scary to envision the ever-increasing pace of technological change. How different will our lives become in the next decade or two?

Unfortunately, no one can answer that question exactly. Partly because of the quirky nature of invention, in that odd things such as looms lead to the creation of the internet, and partly because of human nature, which tends to fear change of any kind. In books for intelligent people, prognostication is less important than bringing converging biological and technological threads together, and posing critical questions about the ethical choices we'll face. As a physicist and longtime science fiction editor (25 years at Analog Science Fiction and Fact) Dr. Schmidt is well-positioned to do so.

Dr. Schmidt brings up a number of issues involving privacy, such as the proliferation of data-mining, RFIDs in money and passports, and GPS transponders in vehicles. Many rental-car companies are monitoring the transponders in their rentals and charging drivers for speeding, even in cases where the driver was never stopped by police. Is this reasonable prudence on the part of these companies, or an intolerable intrusion of privacy?

All in all, a good read.