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Ten reasons why microprocessors define the twentieth century more than any other achievement. (Peter Wayner)

   Flash back to 1971. China enters the United Nations. Eighteen-year-olds win the right to vote in the U.S. A "computer on a chip" arrives that's small enough and cheap enough to fit inside business machines, toys, appliances, tools, and entertainment devices - in short, anything that is vaguely electrical. The world hasn't been the same since.
   Today, thanks to the microprocessors that have followed Intel's 4004 in 1971, we're healthier, better informed, more efficient, and, in some disturbing ways, less private than we were 25 years ago. (For details about the 4004 and other significant microprocessors, see the article "Birth of a Chip". To see how technology may change in the next decade, see the article "Eight Ways to the Future.) Because microprocessors have become so much a part of our lives, the real challenge is to find devices in our business and personal lives that aren't in some way computer-controlled. Small and relatively inexpensive computers have made it possible for us to track virtually any human activity, analyze any process, and control any mechanism.
   As we acknowledge the microprocessor's twenty-fifth anniversary, we should also remind ourselves that computers only process data: Knowledge is another matter. The Federal Reserve may run dozens of computer-based financial models, but in the end, it's humans who decide whether to raise or lower interest rates. Similarly, years of research in artificial Intelligence have produced flexible algorithms that can adapt in well-defined ways, but only humans have the ability to comprehend and grok.
   What follows is our list of 10 dramatic ways that the microprocessor has changed our world. All point to one indisputable fact: Any look at the microprocessor's impact on society is only a snapshot in time. The revolution continues.

Individual Rights: Privacy Under Fire
   In the past, your private documents were only as secure as the safe you locked them in at night. Today, electronic encryption secures information on disk drives so that only authorized people can read sensitive data.
   But encryption also creates the possibility that criminals could electronically hide important evidence. In the U.S., federal law-enforcement officials are pushing a plan for people to give a copy of all encryption keys to the government, which will keep the keys under wraps unless there's a need to read some encrypted data. According to these officials, the encryption threat is so great that the U.S. government should continue its fight against exporting encryption technology beyond its borders.
   Encryption will also provide the under pinnings for widespread electronic commerce, which could give consumers unlimited access to a world marketplace and an electronic audit trail for recovering lost or stolen funds. Nevertheless, our privacy also could be assaulted by credit-card companies, banks, and others who can easily assemble detailed dossiers on our spending habits. For example, employers in some states can legally refuse to hire cigarette smokers because of the cost of providing health care. Taken to an extreme, electronic records of spending habits could lead to a job interview such as this:
   Employer: "Are you currently a cigarette smoker?"
   Applicant: "No comment."
   Employer: "Then would you care to explain why you bought that 20-cigarette pack of Marlboro lights at 12:32 p.m. on June 14.1997, at the Zippee Mart on Fourth and Oak?" In the end, blind-signature schemes for digital cash and anonymous messaging using Secure IP (Internet Protocol) may be our best hope for shopping without the aid of Big Brother.

Business: The Electronic Workplace
   The outward signs are everywhere: PCs on every desktop, laser printers in every workgroup, electronic spreadsheets and databases bolstering every business decision. The modem office looks and works differently from its predecessor of 25 years ago, thanks to the microprocessor.
   At first, computers simply translated traditional ways of working into some electronic analogy that may or may not have improved efficiency. Gradually, however, computers inspired us to work differently: Groupware products and intranets using cheap microprocessor-based computers now provide seamless communication and make it possible for managers to control larger and more diverse groups.
   The good news is that many office products have never been cheaper (after adjusting for inflation). The bad news is that many companies need fewer managers, which narrows advancement paths for many people. What's more, as workgroups become geographically dispersed, some workers find themselves cut out of essential meetings. The synergy of the water cooler disappears.