ABSTRACT
Information technology is identity technology. Embedding it in a culture that supports democracy, freedom of expression, tolerance, diversity, and complexity of opinion is one of the greatest challenges. Despite the ever-increasing complexity of software, most computer environments put users in worlds based on constrained choices. Computer simulations enable their users to think about complex phenomena as dynamic, evolving systems. It is ironic that in most elementary schools, the ideas being carried by information technology are not ideas from computer science like procedural thinking, but more likely to be those embedded in productivity tools like PowerPoint presentation software. College students are habituated to a world of online blogging, instant messaging, and Web browsing that leaves electronic traces. Yet they have had little experience with the right to privacy. Few professional writers would part with their computers; some claim that they simply cannot think without their hands on the keyboard.
