Jean-François Lyotard was a French philosopher and literary theorist. He was a key figure in the development of postmodernist philosophy. In addition to helping define postmodernism, Lyotard also analyzed its effects on the human condition. The Postmodern Condition is one of Lyotard's seminal works on the impact of postmodernism on the modern world. The focus of the work is the current transition of societies from an industrial to a post-industrial framework. How does this change change the means and methods of production and the products created? How does the shift in legitimation from Enlightenment/Newtonian to postmodern criteria affect the nature and status of science and knowledge? What change will this bring to the structure and nature of society? Lyotard argues that the transformation will have a significant impact on knowledge. "Its (knowledge)'s two main functions, research and transmission of learning, are already having their effects felt or will soon do so." (Lyotard, 4) As with many momentous changes in society, the change is the result of an invention. Just as Gutenberg's press democratized knowledge, the invention of computers is once again altering the spread of knowledge. “It is reasonable to assume that the proliferation of information-processing machines (computers) is having, and will continue to have, as much an effect on the circulation of knowledge as advances in human circulation (transportation systems), and later, in the circulation of sound and visual images (the media). (Lyotard, 5) Science has moved from a system based on the revelation of some "objective truth" (final meant anyone? lol) to one within and... the center of the paper... to perceive the State as opacity factor and 'noise'. It is in this perspective that the problem of the relationship between economic powers and state powers risks posing itself with new urgency". (Lyotard, 5) Lyotard goes so far as to say that modern multinational corporations have gone so far as to endanger the state, an interesting evolution of who controls the means of production within a society. The postmodern condition persists as one of the canonical conditions of the theory of postmodernism. Whether or not you subscribe to all the points Derrida makes, it constitutes an extraordinary glimpse into an extraordinary mind. The postmodern vision of science and knowledge is radical, but Derrida offers plausible reasoning as to why this vision is the most valid. Works Cited Jean-François Lyotard (1979). The postmodern condition: rapport sur le savoir. Paris: Minuit.