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The history of humankind and its relationship to technology is well documented. One such technology-information technology-has been impacting human thought over at least the last 400 years.For example, the 17th century was described by its technology historians as the Age of Experience, in which many developments from direct observation were realized in fundamental astronomy, physics, chemistry, and mathematics despite remaining mysteries in other fundamental concepts (e.g., sphericity of the planet). The 18th century was perceived as the Age of Reason-the Renaissance following the Dark Ages in Europe at the end of the 17th century. From the beginning of the 19th century until about 1950, we had what we could call the Age of Mathematics-here the arithmetical formalisms of the previous century were advanced into more formal calculus-based theories. From 1950 to 1980, we had the Age of Computing-a time where many computational models of physical processes were developed. This period paralleled the developments in digital computing from the ILLIAC through the IBM 360 to the IBM PC. From 1980 to 1995, we had the Age of Knowledge-a time when, as evidenced in its literature, a great deal of effort was focused on the acquisition and appropriate use of knowledge. Again, we see a parallel development, this time in hardware, between the areas of symbolic computing (LISP machines, Mathematica) and parallel computing (CRAY, Connection-Machine, IBM SP). Finally, 1995 to the present is the Age of Cyberspace-an age of ubiquitous networks and multiple, rapid forms of communication.Humans cannot be expected to reasonably adjust to today's rapid technological advancements. Today humans are in information overload. The engine behind this can be traced to the individual forces of computer hardware and software; the nascent field of network computing; integration of various engineering fields; new technologies such as GIS (geographic information systems) and GPS (global positioning systems) producing gigabytes of information each hour; intelligent databases; complex simulation models; collaborative engineering; inventive engineering; and new methods to present, distill, and deliver technological education to distant areas-so-called distance education (Arciszewski, 1999).

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