From the AK archive: An abridged version of Arnold Kemp’s ‘Stone Lecture’ at Glasgow University, Spring 1996.

The information industry is growing at an amazing rate world-wide. This is a fact that is beginning to reach into every household. How many of us now, if we wake in the wee small hours will creep to the keyboard to tap our way into the throbbing electronic world without frontiers?

I cannot claim to be a surfer on the Internet, I am a somewhat hesitant and timorous inhabitant of cyberspace, living in a little corner of the world wide web. But I am aware of the enormous possibilities that have been opened up for the rapid exchange of information and images across the world. I am aware that every household, one of these days, will have access to the information and entertainment superhighway and will be able to transact much business without leaving the keyboard. I am aware too that this enormous technological leap forward is not necessarily accompanied by a similar increase in the sum of human wisdom. I may be able to communicate with people all over the world. But have I anything interesting to tell them?