A S S E S S I N G    T H E    2 0 T H     C E N T U R Y

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1980-90: The Emergence of a
High-Tech Society and a New World Order
As the decade of the 1980s began, the world was being shaken by a series of fundamental changes. The business world moved to a true high-tech society with the entry of the microcomputer.

While there had been a few hobby kits available in the 1970s the new decade brought microcomputers that could do things -- things like word processing, like maintaining databases, like creating graphics. The impact in the business world was enormous.

I remember buying my first Radio Shack computer. It had a storage capacity of 32K. Then the Apple II appeared on the scene. It was wonderful! It had "open architecture" that permitted you to insert boards with specific capabilities such as word processing and communication.

Then came portables. For several years I traveled with a big, heavy Kaypro the size of a suitcase. That gave way to a series of laptops. These new products came with increasing frequency as the development time scale was steadily reduced.

Another significant entry into the business world was the fax machine that could talk to other fax machines. The world discovered that a good new product developed anywhere could be introduced globally in a matter of months.

This was also a time in which many groups tried to develop digital telecommunications networks for various purposes. Quietly, the Internet began to take shape. In 1983 our company, Conway Data (www.conway.com), launched SiteNet (www.sitenet.com), the first network carrying development information.

During the same decade mankind began to reap the benefits of ideas planted in earlier years. Open-heart surgery became routine, and organ banks for transplants came into wide use. Genetic engineering made its appearance, and the groundwork was laid for the human genome program, which would have great implications for the future.

Amid all of the technological developments, we saw an increasing focus on the good life. There were many new products and services introduced to provide greater convenience. The packaging of frozen foods became common and new TV dinners found a fast-growing market. Scuba diving centers sprang up around the world.

On the global scene the biggest event was the breakup of the USSR. This sudden and dramatic event ended the Cold War and made possible open societies in a large part of the world. It removed barriers and boundaries and provided opportunities for new relationships and new ventures throughout Eastern Europe and South Asia. China began to move into the global economic competition by setting up special economic zones, the most significant of which was at Shenzhen, near Hong Kong.

As the Cold War ended and the prospect of large-scale world wars declined, a new threat -- international terrorism -- appeared. During one five-year period some 500 international air travelers were killed in a variety of hijacking and bomb incidents. We recognized that air transport security was a mind-boggling problem. On a typical day some 35,000 flights carrying 3 million passengers took off from more than 7,000 airports.

To focus attention on the problem, we established the Conway Safe Skies Award to recognize those making outstanding contributions to the protection of international air travelers against acts of terrorism. In recent years we have given the award to members of a SWAT team who stopped a hijacking in India; to Greek police who prevented an incident at Athens; to a French SWAT team that intervened in a hijacking at Marseilles; and, most recently, to a Turkish team that stopped a hijacking in Ankara.

As with almost every decade, the period of the 1980s found people moving faster and faster. The "bullet train" went into service in Japan, and the "TGV" high-speed train began service in France.

In 1989 researchers Fleishmann, Pons and Hawkins published a report on the discovery of "cold fusion." This was greeted by much skepticism, but by the end of the century there were numerous confirmations that, indeed, a new and very promising energy source may have been found.

Topping off the decade, the space shuttle made its first test flight. Mankind would henceforth make regular trips into space.