For those of us who can remember a time when the World Wide Web was a new concept, the Internet once seemed adventurous and exciting.
Not much was at stake in those days.
Businesses saw a potential new marketplace and society embraced a new pastime.
We became a culture devoted to distance learning at one extreme, and online dating at the other.
To some, the Internet seemed at best trivial, and at worst frivolous.
Internet-capable computers were as scarce in the offices of Congress as taxis on a rainy night in New York City.
Today we agree that the Internet has changed the world as we knew it, and that those days are over.
With leadership having been transferred to a new generation of courageous young men and women, born in an era when computers became ubiquitous, if we hope to progress we must continue to learn.
Not just as business people, but as citizens and members of the human family.
It is our obligation and our duty.
Abraham Lincoln once remarked: "I don't think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.
" When our country was in its infancy, many of our forbears studied by the light of their fireplace if they were fortunate, and a lone candle if they were not.
By contrast, our search for intellectual growth requires much less rigor today.
Unreliable candlelight has been replaced by perpetual monitor glow, and the endless hours in front of a burning fire have been replaced by information delivered at the speed of light.
With this vast improvement in technology comes an escalating requirement for dedication and seriousness of purpose.
We must not squander the enormous advantage we have been given.
America's obligation in the information age is to never stop learning.
We must stay curious, interested, and intellectually hungry.
We must remain committed to broadening, deepening and sharpening our skills and knowledge.
In an era of terrorist attacks and ecological calamities, the fate of an entire generation may depend upon our ability to harness the enormous power and incredible speed of the Internet.
We must marshal that power, and use it for good.
Lincoln's world may have been simple compared to ours, but his regard for learning cannot be questioned.
Without intellectual growth we cannot hope to survive as an economy or as a nation.
When our best efforts cannot stop a catastrophic oil leak from destroying a major part of our ecology, it is a clarion call to all of us: Learn continually, or fail ultimately.