Informatics in the Future

This volume deals with the prospect and “evolution” of Computer Science, which has become the operating system of our society. From individual to collectives, economics, politics, and society, Computer Science influences all spheres of our life. Its pervasive nature lays the foundations to an overarching technological environment carrying an inherent unprecedented potential for change.

In the following, we use the terms Computer Science and Informatics—not being totally correct—synonymously. As we use Kristen Nygaard’s definition from the 1980s (there are many more, and quite differing ones): “Informatics is the science that has as its domain information processes and related phenomena in artifacts, society and nature,” Informatics (or Computer Science) is not anymore about a specific device, i.e., a computer, it is (or has become) a foundational discipline.

Today, we see Computer Science as the science of the information society. Its artifacts change the world, and its methods have an impact on how we think about and how we perceive the world. In classical terms, we refer to an “abstract” machine which can be instantiated by software to any concrete problem-solving machine, having the unique feature to change its behavior due to external and internal states (being self-reflective and exhibiting “intelligent” behavior). However, current phenomena such as the Web, cyber physical systems, or the Internet of Things (IoT) show us that we might already be beyond this idea, exemplifying a metamorphosis from a stand-alone calculator to the worldwide operating system of our society.