Small enough to easily fit in a student backpack, these new companions will be able to access specifically formatted information on the Internet, send and receive e-mail, and support chat sessions. They will also know where they are physically located because included in the device will be a Global Positioning System, which constantly calculates the handheld device s current position. Over time, these devices will become electronic clones of their owners, remembering what books are purchased, which movies are seen, where regular stops are made during the day, and so on. These devices will remember where one goes, what one does, and even what one thinks about the quality and importance of the advertisements that are constantly being streamed through them. As Orwellian as this may sound, such devices will be quite common within five years.
Evolution encourages their growth.
Now that human consciousness is directly involved in the processes of evolution, however, there is always the promise that this brave new world of pervasive computing will lead to more freedom and not to a world of Big Brother.