Of course, most everyone multitasks now, and UCLA experts say it's making us faster, but sloppier; more involved, but less engaged. Tweeting, texting, Googling, blogging — it's actually rewiring our brains, contends Professor Gary Small '73 of UCLA's Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. "It's changing our neural circuitry," he explains, based on his research showing new pathways created in the brains of first-time Googlers. What's left may be a shorter attention span and, especially among the generation raised on technology, a decreasing ability to socialize and empathize, Small says.

We're developing multitasking brains, this staccato-kind of thought that jumps from side to side," Small says. But for good or for ill? "Studies show it's for ill. We're faster, but we're sloppier." This is problematic enough for adults, but for malleable young minds, it could mean a lifetime of short attention spans. Studies are connecting multitasking to attention deficit disorder (ADD) and addiction. Despite the gloomy predictions, Small sees real benefits from our ultra-linked society, if we can find the right balance.

Two of the most important contributions, though, were those made by the aforementioned Grandmaster Flash, along with the Furious Five, and Afrika Bambaataa. Bambaataa was, aside from rapping, was a social activist. He had formed the Zulu Nation in the 1970s, and brought the Nation's emphasis on knowledge and social awareness to rap. Bambaataa was one of the first to incorporate politics into his music - he sampled Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and others into his music. Bambaataa also pioneered the use of other types of music into rap; he sampled the electronic group Kraftwerk in "Planet Rock", and called the sound

Knight, Robert T. and Marcia Grabowecky. "Escape from Linear Time: Prefrontal Cortex and Conscious Experience." The Cognitive Neurosciences. Ed. Michael S. Gazzaniga. Cambridge MA: MIT P, 1995. 1357-71.