In the first chapter, "New Paradigms for Computing, New Paradigms for Thinking," Mitchel Resnick argues that new computational paradigms (such as object-oriented programming and parallelism) can significantly influence not only what people do with computers, but how they make sense of the world. In particular, he describes a parallel-programming language, called StarLogo, that he designed to help students explore decentralized systems, such as bird flocks, traffic jams, and market economies. By building models with StarLogo, students can move beyond the "centralized mindset" and develop a deeper understanding of decentralized systems.