An updated version of this essay appears on the Nothing but the Truth about Quality book.

This isn't the first nor probably the last article to compare this year to the landmark film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Over 32 years ago, Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke predicted a world of routine space travel, giant computers, and vast possibility. Has our 2001 met these expectations -- in the laboratory? Dr.Westgard muses on what laboratory professionals thought back in 1968 and how things have "changed" since then.