Given the general predilection for technology as machines rather than the wider conception as useful knowledge (Macdonald, Lamberton & Mandeville, 1983), it is not at all surprising that the convergence thesis has been so influential. According to that thesis the two major driving forces in the most fundamental technological change human society has experienced are: (i) cost reductions, productivity or quality improvements, and new services and products largely made possible by advances in microelectronics, and (ii) the combination of computer and telecommunications technologies (OECD, 1981:11–14).
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