ABSTRACT
Every sector of the economy is undergoing a metamorphosis in its own way and at its own pace, but the transformation of individual sectors is not sufficient to alter the nature and operation of capitalism in its entirety—except for the information, banking, and financial service sectors. The emergent computerized infrastructures have made global information instantly available through databanks, satellites, personal computers, and telephone systems. Computer technology has also revolutionized radio, satellite, and mobile telecommunications, and it is effectively turning the telephone system into a gigantic global information-processing and communications system. In the communications industries, computers are transforming publishing, film, broadcasting, and advertising. The resource industries of agriculture, mining, oil and gas, forestry, and fishing have not been left untouched by the computer. In technologically intensive fields, such as remote sensing of the environment, computers are indirectly affecting many resource-based and other industries. Computers are used in the processing of satellite photographs to produce electronic maps and charts.
