ABSTRACT
The present-day world is experiencing far-reaching changes, some of which can be described as revolutionary in the true sense of the term. Although this term is generally used to describe technological changes, it is also undoubtedly applicable to various other aspects of human life. First of all, this new revolution, which some have called the 'third wave', differs radically from its predecessors. It is not confined to the grateful reception of chance discoveries or to an endeavour to adapt and use those discoveries to enhance human life through the development of improved methods to regulate man's relationship with his environment and the introduction of new, mainly industrial, activities, as in the case of the previous two 'industrial' revolutions. On the contrary, it is essentially a revolution in knowledge, which gives the human intellect extensive opportunities to control and improve the environment not only in traditional but also in new and previously inconceivable ways, in which man takes hesitant steps into the unknown.
