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When thinking of where we are going in the future, I always find it useful to cast an eye back to the past. The future of the internet and of information technology is a fascinating theme, and one that has profound implications for our future as human beings.

Developments including so called "trusted computing", digital rights management, and nano technology portend seismic changes in the geography of human life. Maybe the past is unable to give us clues as to what lies ahead, but at least it can help us keep our bearing as we remember from where we have come.

The internet itself has its beginnings in the ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency) at the beginning of the 1960's. This was a collaborative project of research scientists sharing networked computer resources and communicating with one another to the benefit of their various projects. All very "white-coat", but what they have shared with the rest of us is a technology through which the resources of human knowledge can be shared to the mutual benefit of us all. I really hope we can hold on to that vision as technology advances, often driven by very different sets of motives. But even in the business world the metaphors of networking, partnership, and value community have become accepted wisdom. I very much hope that as technologies continue to advance, as old ways of doing things, and even old business models become outdated thus threatening the very touchy subject of profit, that we will be able to maintain the spirit of collaboration, communication, and community that marked the beginnings of the internet.