Possible futures for the world of mainframe computers can be forecast through studies identifying forces of change and their impact on current trends. Some new prospects for the future have been generated by advances in information technology; for example, recent United States successes in applied artificial intelligence (AI) have created new opportunities for the computer and communication industries. The Japanese reacted to the breakthrough of practical artificial intelligence with their own projects. The United States and Europe quickly reacted to the Japanese with such research and development projects as the Semiconduction Research Corporation, the Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration, and the European Strategic Program for Research and Information Technology. New developments spawned by international competitive forces for change have resulted in forecastable expectations for more capabilities and lower costs in chip and wafer-scale component integration, micro-sensors, communication links and interfaces, AI expert knowledge bases, and micro-controllers and activators. With such technological advances, new computerized communications systems will become possible, such as current awareness systems and cooperative systems, and the new computer revolution that is beginning now will have a strong impact on society in the late 1980's and 1990's. (LMM)