Lesson 51 PART B
Predicting the future
Considering how recent these developments are,it is even more remarkale that as long ago as the 1960s,an Englishman,Leon Bagrit,was able to predict some of the uses of computers which we know today.(1)_______________________. Bagrit foresaw a time when computers would be small enough to hold in the hand,when they would be capable of providing information about traffic jams and suggesting alternative routes,when they would be used in hospitals to help doctors to diagnose illnesses,when they would relieve office workers and accountants of dull,repetitive clerical work. All these computer uses have become commonplace.Of course,Leon Bagrit could not possibly have foreseen the development of the Internet,the worldwide system that enables us to communicate instantly with anyone in any part of the world by using computers linked to telephone networks.(2)_______________________. Computers have become smaller and smaller,more and more powerful and cheaper and cheaper.This is what makes Leon Bagrit's predictions particulary remarkable. If he ,or someone like him,were alive today,he might be able to tell us what to expect in the next fifty years.
