As executive director of research at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Robert Lucky leads a team of scientists and engineers who are inventing the future. He spends his days thinking about people and machines and the different ways of knowing things. From advanced computer networks to a robot named Sam who understands human speech, Lucky and his colleagues are exploring how technology will touch our lives in the 21st century. In this program with Bill Moyers, Lucky discusses America’s competition with Japan, how society’s needs and wants determine the direction of technology, and the world of "virtual space." (52 minutes)