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To popularize and promote the use of computers and the internet in Sri Lanka.

Look@ Magazine: issue 1a
Message from Sir Arthur C. Clarke

I still cannot believe that we have finally reached 2001- the year that appeared in the far future when Stanley Kubrick and I made the movie in the mid 1960s. In the run-up to 2001, there were many attempts in the media to compare our imagination with where the world has actually achieved by this date. This analysis Always produced a mixed bag of results: it is true that we don't yet have a HILTON Orbiter or manned space craft heading for Jupiter, but reality has overtaken our imagination in other respects. Especially on the information technology front, many of our speculations have come true- including the global Internet, which is now taken for granted in some parts of the world.

The big question, of course, when science produced HAL, Artificial Intelligence research has been making such progress in recent years that I have no doubt that it is only a matter of few years before we have an Al device that matches the ingenuity and personality of Hal. We may get there by 2010, but of course, technical development will not stop at that.

Everyone who lives in the 21^st century will need to have a working knowledge of information technologies, IT literacy will soon be as essential as the ability to read and write. I congratulate the students of Nivaththaka Chethiya Maha Vidyalya on their initiative to study and embrace IT, and wish them all success.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke

Colombo, Sri Lanka

17 March2001

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Wired group at LAcNet
Comments: wiredNOSPAMlacnet.org (replace NOSPAM with @)
June 4, 2002


	To popularize and promote the use of computers and the internet in Sri Lanka.

	Look@ Magazine: issue 1a Message from Sir Arthur C. Clarke I still cannot believe that we have finally reached 2001- the year that appeared in the far future when Stanley Kubrick and I made the movie in the mid 1960s. In the run-up to 2001, there were many attempts in the media to compare our imagination with where the world has actually achieved by this date. This analysis Always produced a mixed bag of results: it is true that we don't yet have a HILTON Orbiter or manned space craft heading for Jupiter, but reality has overtaken our imagination in other respects. Especially on the information technology front, many of our speculations have come true- including the global Internet, which is now taken for granted in some parts of the world. The big question, of course, when science produced HAL, Artificial Intelligence research has been making such progress in recent years that I have no doubt that it is only a matter of few years before we have an Al device that matches the ingenuity and personality of Hal. We may get there by 2010, but of course, technical development will not stop at that. Everyone who lives in the 21^st century will need to have a working knowledge of information technologies, IT literacy will soon be as essential as the ability to read and write. I congratulate the students of Nivaththaka Chethiya Maha Vidyalya on their initiative to study and embrace IT, and wish them all success. *Sir Arthur C. Clarke* *Colombo, Sri Lanka* *17 March2001* Previous Contents Next

	Wired group at LAcNet Comments: wiredNOSPAMlacnet.org (replace NOSPAM with @) June 4, 2002