One of man's most distinctive characteristics is the manner in which he stores and communicates information. Language has always been an important part of this process, but recently machines have begun to share the spotlight. This book presents a look at the role of language in the process of communication and man's relation, present and future, to his communications technology. The author discusses the strengths and limits of memory and evaluates the human factor in communications systems. He then surveys the surprising range of near-human activities that computers can perform. The book also includes an introduction to psycholinguistics; an unbiased look at developments in the field of physical research; and a discussion of Project Grammarama: a study of how people learn the grammatical rules underlying artificial languages. (Author/AMM)