In his 1990 book, The Age of Unreason, management guru Charles Handy cites the observation that if "the automobile industry had developed as rapidly as the processing capacity of the computer we would now be able to buy a 400 mile per gallon Rolls Royce for £1". It is, of course, deliberately simplistic, but it does serve to underline the dramatic changes which the computer has wrought in its relatively short life.
Today, the world faces up to a future which is increasingly dependent on computer technology. In the office, in the home, at work and at play, the computer chip has become central to the smooth and efficient running of our lives. Over the next 12 months and beyond, the influence of technology will spread even, further as the communications revolution will speed the move towards convergence of the phone, the personal computer and the television. Email addresses will become de rigueur. The Internet's World Wide Web will no longer be catcalled the world wide wait as fantastically fast new networks are put in place. This, along with the adoption of software ensuring secure electronic transactions and micro payments, will facilitate the growth of real online commerce. Or so the optimists tell us.
That's also the happy picture for some: a world where we have access to 200 or more satellite television stations, do our supermarket and other shopping from the comfort of the couch, work from our studies, bank from our bedrooms, call the latest movies onto our flat panel video screens and download the latest music via the Internet on to our own recordable CDs.
For others, it is not such a happy vision. The gulf between the haves and have nots cannot but widen in this new world of constant change. What future for the long term unemployed in such a society? There is also the very important question of whether we want or, need such a technologically advanced society. Just because something is possible does not make it good.
More immediately we must face the challenge of coping with such dramatic change. In his book Handy states that "whether these developments are for good or for ill must be our choice. Technology in itself is, neutral. We can use it to enrich our lives or to let them lose all meaning. What we cannot do is pretend that nothing has changed..."
For their part, governments will have to build a greater understanding of this new information rich, fast moving world in order to be able to respond quickly and effectively. Workers and employers, meanwhile, will need to reach a new understanding of their roles and responsibilities. In an era where whole industries can have a limited lifespan the concept of a job for life is redundant. Management and unions must face the challenge of change, allowing new and flexible work practices and rewards to replace the current outdated concepts. At the roots, schools and colleges must be properly equipped to deliver students capable off handling the challenges of the future without sacrificing trusted and tried educational virtues.
The Government, with its White Paper on Science and Technology, has made a start. But this revolution is driven by international demands and standards. To have any sense of control over it, it is essential that we manage change rather than simply react to it. And that is down to each company and each member of that company and their families. As Handy says: "It is not the technology itself that is important but the impacts" which, without conscious thought, it has on our lives".