This book is a combination of the subject matter and outlooks of<br >various disciplines. It seeks to explain a technical subject (digital<br >computers and computer programming) in a historical light， call-<br >ing upon the history of philosophical as well as technological<br >ideas and going as far back as the Greeks. This seems an odd<br >thing to do. It seems odd precisely because of that widely recog-<br >nized and still dangerous split in our intellectual life--the gulf<br >between the sciences and the humanities. Scientists， including<br >applied scientists and engineers， know very little history or phi-<br >losophy. Those in the humanities generally learn as little science<br >as they ~ua get away with. Many attempts have been made to<br >bridge the gap， and this book can be read as one of them. I have<br >chosen to write about computers because these machines should<br >and， I think， will provide the sturdiest bridge between the world<br >of science and the traditional worlds of philosophy， history， and<br >art. The computer is a medium of communication as well as a<br >scientific tool， and it can be used by humanists as well as scien-<br >tists. It brings concepts of physics， mathematics， and logic into<br >the humanist s world as no previous machine has done. Yet it can<br >also serve to carry artistic and philosophical thinking into the sci-<br >entific community. I am trying， in other words， to recognize and<br >foster a process of cross-fertilization that has already begun.<br > In order to address scientists， engineers， and humanists， I must<br >cover ground that is familiar to each group. My explanation of the<br >computer is far too general to please the computer specialist， but<br >I need to give the nonspecialist some idea of how the machine<br >works in order to explain its impact on our culture. Readers with<br >a background in classical and European philosophy and literature<br >will probably quarrel with my many generalizations about "the<br >Greek" or "the Western European" mind. Again I have to be<br >general， for I need to introduce a wide range of topics in order to<br >map out the areas of history and philosophy to which the com-<br >puter is relevant. The reader may come to his own conclusions<br >about the importance of pottery in the Greek world or that of the<br >steam engine in the nineteenth century. He may argue that the<br >idea of infinity is as important for philosophy and art today as it<br >