Software for the self

by Anthony Smith

In Software for the Self, Anthony Smith casts a wide net over society and culture, describing the effects of the "information revolution" on humankind now and suggesting what will happen in the future. Smith traces the development of entertainment describing how in the past it was something mostly outside the home but, beginning with radio and then television broadcasting, entertainment has gradually taken over the home and, indeed, transformed its organization. Moreover, mass forms of communications like radio, television and cinema are themselves currently giving way to more personal forms of communications like the Internet. Smith sees entertainment moving off in two opposite directions: towards the "big spectacular communal experience" like Disney World on the one hand, and, on the other, towards solitary interaction on a computer. He believes it quite possible that a new generation will look no further than their computers for information and entertainment. Smith sees entertainmen