Discussion of the impact of the computer sciences upon related fields is not new. Indeed, Ridenour (3) discussed the social and scientific implications as long ago as 1949, while Rigler (4) considered radiological aspects in 1963. One needs only to peruse the cumulative indexes of Radiology and compare the increasing attention devoted to the computer in more recent volumes to appreciate its dynamic status in our field. While it is the possibility of digitizing microdensitometer readings or of optically scanning x-ray films that excites the imagination as this comes within the realm of possibility with computers of huge memories and nanosecond response time, it is in the more mundane areas of control and communications that the available potential is not approached. This is not to imply that the Radiologist is about to be replaced by a flawless and tireless machine. Certainly quite the opposite is true. Consider the number of bytes of information that would be written into a program simply to divide a sing...