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There seems little doubt that life in the U.S., then in the rest of the industrial world and eventually all over the planet, will be incalculably changed by the new microtechnology. In the following pages of this special section, TIME explores the changes that are likely to come and those that have already occurred. We also explain the recondite world of microcomputers, how they work, how and where they are made, and look far ahead to a future when the distinction between man and the wondrous device he has created may begin to blur. ∙