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Over the past century and a half, important technological developments
have created a global environment that is drawing the people of the world closer
and closer together. During the industrial revolution, we learned to put motors
to work to magnify human and animal muscle power. In the new Information Age, we
are learning to magnify brainpower by putting the power of computation wherever
we need it, and to provide information services on a global basis. Computer resources
are infinitely flexible tools; networked together, they allow us to generate, exchange,
share and manipulate information in an uncountable number of ways. The Internet,
as an integrating force, has melded the technology of communications and computing
to provide instant connectivity and global information services to all its users
at very low cost.
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