"dream world" and into reality . I put this one down to a draw, since there have been two sequels and the battle continues. Lastly, a new film is coming out in March, 2013, based on Orson Scott Carson's wonderful book ' Ender's Game ', first published in 1985 and slightly updated in 1991. (If you have teenage boys, this is a must for a Christmas present, especially if they generally hate reading). In preparation for an anticipated third invasion from an insectoid alien species, an international fleet maintains a school to find and train future fleet commanders. The world's most talented children, including the novel's protagonist, Ender Wiggin, are taken at a very young age to a training center known as the Battle School. There, teachers train them in the arts of war through increasingly difficult games including ones undertaken in zero gravity in the Battle Room where Ender's tactical genius is revealed. Again, the book explores the intersection between virtuality and reality. Computers: promise and reality It is interesting to look at these old science fiction movies and novels and today's computer world, and see where progress has been made, and where it hasn't. Colossus in some ways anticipated the Internet, as the two computers searched for 'pathways' through which to communicate with each other. We certainly have much more remote surveillance, especially in the United Kingdom, where almost every public space is now under video surveillance, and where increasingly governments are exerting more monitoring over the Internet,