Digital communications and the conduct of science: The new literacy

This essay is a personal perspective on the emergence of a new form of communication, optimistically called the 'EUGRAM'. This form is based on the convergence of economical digital communications with computer-aided facilities for file management, and protocols to facilitate the interconnection of users separated both in time and space. The EUGRAM is contrasted with the telephone, with the latter's demands on instant availability and the subjugation of the user to an almost uninterruptible stream of data. The EUGRAM is expected to increase the thoughtfulness of communication, the return of literacy in the efficient and precise use of language, and to enhance scientific discourse in many other ways.