All this despite fighting two world wars, Korea, Vietnam, and the Cold War. Amazingly, we have come to the end of the century in a vastly more positive mood than anyone could have thought just 20 years ago. The nation is confident that it can handle the staggering acceleration of change that is propelling us into the next century. In just the past four decades, we have amassed more scientific knowledge than was generated in the previous 5,000 years. Scientific information is now increasing twofold about every five years.
New knowledge makes most technology obsolete in just five to seven years.
Even computers are out of date in less than two years. Recently, IBM announced that it is going to build a supercomputer working 500 times faster than the fastest computer today. The potential benefits defy imagining. Today, the Human Genome Project promises to map every gene, but before too long, we may be able to prescribe gene therapies for individual disorders. We should be able to measure the human impact on climate, learn more about how the brain works, and postpone human aging.