powerful and efficient in the industry when they hit the market next
year. Yet a year after that they’ll be obsolete.” He looked at Sawyer.
“What sort of system do you use at work?”
Sawyer put his hands in his pocket. “You might not have heard of it:
Smith Corona?”
Rowe gaped at him. “You’re kidding.”
“Just got a new ribbon in it, baby runs sweet as mother’s milk.”
Sawyer sounded very defensive.
Rowe shook his head. “A friendly warning. Anyone who doesn’t know how
to operate a computer in the coming years will not be able to function
in society. Don’t be intimidated. The systems today are not only user
friendly, they are idiot friendly, no offense intended.”
Sawyer sighed. “Computers getting faster all the time, this Inter-net
thing, whatever it really is, growing like crazy, networks, paging,
cellular phones, faxes. Jesus, where’s it going to end?”
“Since it’s the business I’m in, I hope it never does.”
“Sometimes change can happen too fast.”
Rowe smiled benignly. “The change we see going on today will pale in
comparison to what will take place in the next five years.
We’re on the cusp of technological breakthroughs that would have seemed
unthinkable barely ten years ago.” Rowe’s eyes appeared to shine ahead
into the next century. “What we know as the Internet today will seem
boring and quaint very soon. Triton Global will be a huge part of that
happening. In fact, if things work out correctly, we will be leading
the way. Education, medicine, the workplace, travel, entertainment, how
we eat, socialize, consume, produce–everything human beings do or
benefit from will be transformed.
Poverty, prejudice, crime, injustice, disease will crumple under the
sheer weight of information, of discovery. Ignorance will simply
disappear.
The knowledge of thousands of libraries, the sum of the world’s greatest
minds, all will be readily accessible by anyone. In the end, the world
of computers as we know it today will metamorphose into one enormous
interactive global link of limitless potential.”
He peered at Sawyer through his glasses. “All the world’s knowledge,
the solutions to every problem, will be one keystroke away. It’s the
natural next step.”
“One person will be able to get all that from a computer.”
Sawyer’s tone was skeptical.
“Isn’t that a thrilling vision?”
“Scares the shit out of me.”
Rowe’s mouth dropped open. “How could that possibly be frightening to
you?”
“Maybe I’m a little cynical after twenty-five years of doing what I do
for a living. But you tell me one guy can get all that information and
you know the first thought pops into my head?”
“No, what?”
“What if he’s a bad guy?” Rowe didn’t react. “What if with one
keystroke he wipes out all the world’s knowledge?” Sawyer snapped his
fingers. “He destroys everything? Or just screws it all up. Then what
the hell do we do?”
Rowe smiled. “The benefits of technology far surpass any potential
dangers. You may not agree with me, but the coming years will prove me
right.”
Sawyer scratched the back of his head. “You’re probably too young to
know this, but back in the fifties, nobody thought illegal drugs would
ever be a big problem either. Go figure.”
The two men continued their tour. “We have five of these facilities
situated across the country,” Rowe said.
“Must get pretty expensive.”
“You could say that. We spend over ten billion dollars per year on
R&D.”
Sawyer whistled. “You’re talking numbers I can’t even begin to
contemplate. Of course, I’m just a working-stiff bureaucrat who sits
around picking his nose on the public dole.”
Rowe smiled. “Nathan ‘Gamble delights in making other people squirm. I
think he met his match in you, though. For obvious reasons I didn’t
applaud your performance, but I was seriously thinking about a standing
ovation.”
“Hardy said you had your own company, hot stock. If you don’t mind my
asking, how come you hooked up with Gamble?”
“Money.” Rowe waved his arm around the facility they were in.
“This all costs billions of dollars. My company was doing well, but
lots of tech companies were doing well in the stock market. What people
don’t seem to understand is that while my company’s stock price went