Julie, yes we are evolving more rapidly than ever. The Internet has been part of our lives for a mere 20 years. In the next 2 years another 3 billion people will be coming online from the third world, including those same people who have been taking all the MIT courses offered for free on the Internet. It's easy to imagine a few thousand Marie Curies, Luies Pasteurs, Albert Einsteins, Maya Angelous, about to shake our world!

Technology is now intertwined with our biology. There is much to hope for just as there is much to fear. It's hard if not impossible to see what shape we will be in the future. I think of my children.

As they grow it is easy to look at baby pictures and see where they came from, but I can never imagine adequately what they will become. Their physiology is easy to see and remark upon and illustrates this well. But, even more daunting is how their intelligence and behavior evolves. I an in awe of their abilities, so much more than my own at their age.

And this is reflected in more than what they say and do - it's in society. For example, I am a math major, but my son has been studying as far back as Jr High many of the concepts I learned only in college.

Mythically, our story is in a great transformational age. Yes, it will be a rough ride ahead for many, perhaps us included. Nonetheless, it is the only ride there is! Let's step up, lead not follow, raise our bar, make a new day. Carpe diem!