34 When Winning Is Losing: Why the Nation That Invented the Computer Lost Its Lead

At first glance, this piece may seem an odd selection in a section about the future since it is a story about the past. However, as historians often point out, if we don't learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. Hicks presents a tale of the history of computing with the hope that we can learn from failures in the past as well as successes. One of the challenges of the twenty-first century will be to develop a workforce with the skills needed to develop, monitor, maintain, use, and improve science and technology in an increasingly complicated sociotechnical world.