Over the past several years there has been considerable speculation concerning the role, direction, and characteristics of information processing systems in the future. The gap between the technological state of the art in computer-based information processing and today's applied practices in management information systems further clouds the issues involved. It is argued in this essay that information systems in the future will play a considerably expanded role in managerial problem solving processes, augmenting and in some cases replacing the analytical skills which today reside in the decision maker. Some implications of this argument are illustrated by a discussion of DPS (Dialectic Problem Solver), an interactive man-computer decision analysis model currently under development. (Author)