“But the true fruition of Hawthorne’s vision may not come until the period from 2020 to 2050, when true artificial intelligent (AI) programs will finally be added to the Net, capable of reason, common sense, and speech recognition. Some call this the “fourth phase” of computing, when we will be able to communicate with the Internet as if it were an intelligent being. Eventually, accessing the Internet may resemble talking to the Magic Mirror of children’s fairy tales. Instead of typing arcane codes and symbols into a web navigator and being flooded with fifty thousand incorrect answers, in the future we will simply talk to our wall screen or tie clasp and access the entire planet’s formidable body of knowledge. This magic mirror, endowed with an intelligent system complete with common sense and reason, and, very possibly, a human face and a distinct personality, may act as an adviser, confidant, aide, secretary, and gofer all at the same time. One computer analyst commented that the future could resemble a Disney movie, as inanimate objects come alive and talk to each other and to us, like the talking tea kettle, Mrs. Potts, in Beauty and the Beast.” The author’s tone when discussing the future of the internet is best described as

a
Inspired
b
Magical
c
Irritated
d
Cautious