In 1990, Jun Murai, at the time an associate professor at Keio University in Tokyo, made a prediction in an article in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. When asked what the future of computer systems would look like, he described a world where, on one level there would be a network, on a second level computers and on a third, outer layer the human brain — all interconnected and communicating but being powered by the human mind. Murai's comments made such an impact that among the people who began to contact him he received an odd visit from one woman who said she now knew the source of the voice she heard in her head!
She had clearly been imagining things, but Murai — who was the first person in Japan to connect a computer to what we now know as the Internet (earning him the moniker "father of the Internet in Japan") — is likely to be the best person to talk to should such a situation arise.
At the Internet of Things 2010 Conference, held in Tokyo last week, Murai — who is now Dean, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies at Keio — sat down with The Japan Times to give his prediction for the next 20 years of the Internet.