PAUL LOCATELLI
Thank you very much Jim and it is my pleasure to welcome all of you
to the university. On this important occasion and as president of
a university that will be celebrating its 150th anniversary in the year
2000, I have a particular appreciation for what it means to celebrate advances
in human knowledge and the application of knowledge to advance the common
good. Celebrations are about both remembering and visioning and in
the case of magnetic recording, today’s celebration involves fond remembrance
of people who envisioned things that others could not. Of innovation
and adventure, of patience and steadfast and continuous commitment to explore
new frontiers of knowledge in science and the human quest to translate
our understanding of science and their applications into improvements for
all people. The contribution of storage technology to advances in
human knowledge are really truly good and unprecedented. Here at
Santa Clara, for example, these advances have transformed the concept of
library from place to a gateway or access to unprecedented sources of knowledge
never imagined 100 years ago or even within the last few decades.
Beyond this, storage technology is enabling faculty and students to work
interactively with large depositories of information and in the ordinary
course of learning, to be able to indulge and simulate complex problems
as well as “what if” exploratory questions. This was not feasible
a few years ago. And recently I was asked to identify one of the
most important tools of my work. And after thinking about it, my
background is accounting, and rather than picking the shade, the green
shade, and a pencil, I said www.bookmarks because they provided immediate
access of information. And of course the PC on my desk has more capacity,
as you all know, than many of the early mainframes. At the same time
we probably all suffer from information overload. Today’s program
reflects an incredible journey of scientific and technological advances.
The imagination of the pioneers of technology should remind us that the
possibilities are limited only by our imaginations and even greater things
are yet to come. My hope is that our imagination in development and
developing new technologies will also address the perplexing problems of
the growing gap between the rich and the poor, the building of community
and improving the quality of life for all people and the rights of privacy
balanced with the good of people and the good of the family and human dignity
and other relevant social issues. Santa Clara Center for Science,
Technology and Society is pleased to join with the Institute for Information
Storage Technology in bringing you today’s program.