MATH’S NOTES

wo decades ago, in 1999, I wrote a column predicting what I thought the future would be like in the coming 20 years and, as strange as it seems to me, it’s finally here. As it appears that the COVID-19 situation is still not well under control by the time you read this, I am not sure what to predict. What we all have agonized over for the past six months may have not destroyed our civilization (as we know it) but has certainly altered it worldwide. Hopefully, enthusiasm for technology has not changed, especially in our ranks. Since this is a time of year that most people consider and predict the future, not to be outdone, I would like to update my point of view of the technology to come since many of the readers of these columns are technically-inclined (I hopefully assume correctly). First, to understand what I base my views on, we must always consider where we have come from.