Here is what optimists say

• People will be able to travel in space. They will be able to spend their holidays on other planets.

• We'll be stronger and healthier. Scientists will invent anti-ageing pills and people will live much longer than now.

• Air pollution will be stopped. Special underground pipes will carry smoke and fumes from factories to air-cleaning plants.

• Robots will do all the dangerous and dirty jobs. Our working hours will be shorter and our holidays will be longer.

• There will be no more wars, no more criminals. The world will become more democratic.

• Our daily life will become easier. Everything will be automated. We'll shop, pay our bills and even cook with the help of computers.

And what do you think of the future?

(from Speak Out, abridged)

WHY ARE WE SO EXCITED ABOUT THE INTERNET?

What exactly is it that gets us all so excited about the Internet?

As well as being a global network of networks, the Internet is a global network of people, ideas and information. The Net is as interesting and exciting as the people, organisations, companies, governments and weirdoes that are connected to it.

There is another thing that's exciting about the Internet. Like love and life, the Net is what you make it. If you don't like what's happening on one part of the network, you can build yourself a whole new cybercity, appoint yourself as mayor and run it exactly as you want.

The Internet enables you to do a lot of things simultaneously. You can read the latest copy of your favourite newspaper while planning your night's TV viewing and ordering some cheap CDs from an American discount disc store.

You can send e-mail to someone you've never met before ... Some people have "met" over the Internet and got married.

The first web browsers only supported simple texts and images, but now a multitude of multimedia plug-ins enables webpages to sing and dance.

From PC banking to online shopping and chats with celebrities, the Internet is already changing our lives. The arrival of digital TV promises even more exciting things.