"Killing Time," my latest book, has been repeatedly described as "dystopian," a word I confess I don't quite understand; but it cannot be denied that the novel paints a rather harsh picture of the immediate future, and specifically of the nature and possible long-term effects of the triumph of information technology. It is my belief, for which I offer no apology, that most of that technology is making people dumber: It is teaching them how to assemble massive amounts of information, of arcane minutia, without simultaneously teaching them how to assemble those bits of information into integrated bodies of knowledge -- such integration being the only function that distinguishes the human brain from a mechanical computer.

And lest anyone waste a free moment worrying about this dilemma, information technology bombards us so constantly with entertainment and marketing that quiet, objective consideration of our fate often becomes impossible. This leads to a society in which each member is increasingly concerned with the satisfaction of his or her own material appetites, and less and less concerned with the philosophical problems and principles that underlie the successful creation and maintenance of a civil society. The result? A downward spiral into a very uncivil state, one in which the public interest takes a distinct back seat to public diversion.

In "Killing Time" I go on to say that if this condition goes unchecked for an additional 20 or even 10 years, what we will see is the triumph of corporate interests, the deterioration of educational, environmental and public health programs, and increased violence in those parts of our country and our world that are left behind in the information-generated scramble for wealth and material satisfaction. What can possibly check such developments? Only one thing, I believe: vigorous but enlightened government regulation, the same kind of regulation that Theodore Roosevelt initiated 100 years ago to check the spiral of the United States into a nation where the rich were served by a laboring class that had no right or reason to expect reasonable working hours or standards, decent food, drugs or housing, or even remotely honest politicians.

If you have made it this far in my apologia, chances are you are already groaning. What? you may well be saying. Information technology is bad? And government regulation is the answer? But information technology has generated so much wealth, from the stock market to porn peddlers to dot-coms! And government regulation -- I thought we were trying to get less of that in our lives. Why are you, Mr. Carr, trying to rain on a parade that has made so much money for so many people and entertained such vast audiences by bringing in the tired old horse known as government regulation?

What the hell is your problem, anyway?

Maya Angelou reads from "The Heart of a Woman"