In the 1960's, the HAL 9000 computer from 2001:A Space Odyessy was considered very plausible.  The HAL 9000 was to have been created in 1997.  It had voice recognition, played chess, and the entire interface consisted of a red light.  In reality, computers play chess and can beat even the best humans.  They have no concept of speech.  The lesson is that it is difficult to predict future technology, because it is impossible to forsee roadblocks and breakthroughs.  Therefore, all the information about the future possibilities contained here are educated guesses; they are not fact.

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