BY all accounts, we are on the cusp of a great technological revolution or revolutions. In the last several months, Time, Newsweek, Wired, the New York Times Magazine, even the stuffy, high-brow Partisan Review have run cover stories on the technological marvels about to transform our lives. None of this apparently is science fiction but what leading scientists in their respective fields are predicting as fact. Some of the changes will be of the James Bond variety, like auto-piloted cars and nonlethal phaser guns.