Productivity is the yardstick by which socioeconomic revolutions are measureD.Plows initiated the agrarian revolution by greatly improving the productivity of farmers. Engines, and (1)_____ electricity, (2)_____ the industrial revolutions by (3)_____ improving the productivity of workers in manufacturing and transportation. If there is to be a true in formation revolution, then computers will have to (4)_____ the pattern with information and information work.
Information technology has (5)_____ begun to improve productivity, and it has even hurt it in some cases; it takes longer to wade (6)_____ those endless automated phone answering menus (7)_____ it does to talk to a human operator. (8)_____, productivity will rise (9)_____ computers and communications are used in the Information Marketplace to relieve people of brain work (10)_____ industrial machinery relieved us of physical work.
The Information Marketplace will give (11)_____ to two great new forces that will drive (12)_____ in the twenty-first century. (13)_____, most people and companies buy new computers because the hardware has faster processors or more storage capacity, or because it is fashionable to own a new model, (14)_____ because competitors have bought them and 'we can't afford to fall behinD.' Imagine the (15)_____ of a company buying a new device be cause the motor turns at a higher (16)_____, or because it's in vogue to do so, or because the competition just bought that model (17)_____ of whether the machine can move any more earth in an hour!
Let's explore how the Information marketplace might help us in the (18)_____ quest to get more results for less (19)_____. To do this, we will first examine a series of 'faults'—ways in which computer technology is (20)_____ today, because of either technological or human weaknesses. Correcting these faults will be the first step toward increasing our productivity. Making the Information Marketplace easier to use will be the second step.
A.since
B.then
C.before
D.later