[originaltext] The revolution in communications that has already taken place

The revolution in communications that has already taken place is still not fully understood. One way of appreciating it is to do a kind of communications strip tease. I would like you to remove in your minds TV, then radio, then telephones, then the postal service, then the newspapers. In such a situation, we should feel deaf and blind. Well, we’ll appear this way to our grandchildren. Don’t forget that a generation has already grown up that never knew a world without TV. One communications revolution has taken place in our lifetime.
    The next revolution, perhaps the final one, will be the result of satellites and microelectronics, which will enable us to do literally anything we want to in the field of communications and information transfer—including, ultimately, not only sound and vision but all sense impressions.
    I am particularly interested in TV broadcasting from satellites directly into the home, bypassing today’s ground stations—a proposal I first described 22 years ago. This will mean the abolition of all present geographical restrictions to TV; via satellites, any country can broadcast to any other. Direct-broadcast TV will be possible within five years and may be most important to undeveloped countries that have no ground stations, and now may never require any. I believe that communications satellites will certainly lead to a global telephone system and end long-distance calls—for all calls will be " local!" There will be the same flat rate everywhere.
    All these things are associated with information processing, and one-third of the GNP is now spent on this in one form or another—data storage, TV, radio, books, and so forth. This ratio is increasing; our society is changing from a goods-producing society to an information-processing one.
    Another very important consequence will be a change in the patterns of transport, for a man and his work need no longer be in the same place—anybody who does any kind of mental work can live wherever he pleases. Beyond this, any kind of manipulative skill can also be transferred from one point to another. I can imagine a time when even a brain surgeon can live in one place and operate on patients all over the world, through remote-controlled artificial hands.
    OK. That’s all for today’s talk. Thank you for listening.
    Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.
    16. What does the speaker say about communications revolution?
    17. What cannot be transferred in the next communications revolution?
    18. What does the speaker say about the change in the patterns of transport?