When then 32-year-old Brooks Laich was traded to the young, captain-less Toronto Maple Leafs at last seasons trade deadline, some wondered if Laich, known as a well-spoken leader, was destined to be the 19th captain in franchise history. Laich would go on to admit that he dreamed of donning the C for the Maple Leafs as a child.Instead, the cold business side of the NHL caught up with Laich last week when he was placed on waivers and then assigned to the AHLs Toronto Marlies. The Maple Leafs are still without a captain.And the Leafs arent alone: The Carolina Hurricanes have not christened anyone with the C this season, and the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers only just recently named their captains.Unlike in other professional sports, where captains are often ceremonial, the role of an NHL team captain has traditionally come with official duties -- theyre even spelled out in the rulebook. Rule 6.1 states: One Captain shall be appointed by each team, and he alone shall have the privilege of discussing with the Referee any questions relating to interpretation of rules which may arise during the progress of a game. Off the ice, a captain can also act as conduit between the teams head coach and players.But in reality, the role has begun to change for many teams -- so much so that many believe having a guy with a letter on his sweater isnt the requirement it used to be.Todays game is led by core groups of players. Its not done by one individual, said Laich after a Maple Leafs training camp practice before he was sent down.Frequent coaching changes and player movement mean that dressing rooms evolve more quickly than they used to, and given the more diverse geographical representation of players, its often not up to just one player to dictate the environment in a room.Just because you have a letter doesnt mean youre the leader, and just because you dont have a letter doesnt mean you cant be a leader, Laich continued. The room figures itself out. People follow actions more than they follow words. That kind of stuff will take care of itself.Laichs leadership approach seems to be echoed around the league. Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said his teams captaincy is still to be determined. With a leadership core that includes Justin Faulk, Ron Hainsey, Jordan Staal and Jay McClement, Peters doesnt believe the Hurricanes need a captain immediately.If we name one, itll be because we have the guy whos the slam-dunk choice, Peters said. If we dont, its because we dont want to make a mistake. What we dont want to do is rush into things and then down the road say, Geez, we made a mistake. Id rather be patient and possibly go with three As and then when it is time to give out the C, its something we dont take lightly.Some believe the captaincy is simply an encumbrance, as it adds responsibility in an age when players already have plenty of off-the-ice responsibilities.The San Jose Sharks, for one, have had a tumultuous recent history with their captaincy. In 2008-09, the Sharks won the Presidents Trophy for finishing with the NHLs best regular-season record but then were ousted in the first round of the playoffs by the Anaheim Ducks. Many questioned then-San Jose captain?Patrick Marleaus leadership, and Marleau, who had worn the C since 2004, was stripped of the captaincy that summer. But the forward bounced back the next season with 83 points (he had scored 71 and 48 points the previous two seasons, respectively). The Sharks eventually named?Joe Thornton?as his successor, but San Jose stumbled in the first round of the playoffs again in 2014 and Jumbo Joe was ousted from the role too. The following season, the Sharks went without a captain -- and missed the playoffs for the first time in 10 years.Sometimes guys get that letter and its a burden for them, Peters said. We dont want it to be burdensome for anybody. If its going to hurt any player, we dont want to do it.And then theres Connor McDavid, recently named Oilers captain and now the youngest in the NHL. Few doubt McDavids game-changing ability, but being named captain before he even had a full season of NHL experience under his belt speaks more to McDavid becoming the face of the franchise and less to him relying on his professional experience to guide the team.How McDavid will handle the captaincy in addition to being the savior of the franchise remains to be seen. McDavid has served as a team captain before, both for the OHLs Erie Otters and for Team North America at the World Cup of Hockey.If theres anyone who understands the pressure of the role, its Arizona Coyotes captain Shane Doan, the current longest-serving captain in the NHL, who has worn the C for the Coyotes since before the 2003-04 season and has become synonymous with the franchise.As a sport we put so much onus on the captain, Doan said. And I dont think they want to put that on certain people and put people in a position where its going to be a little more difficult for them to be successful. People are more conscientious about giving the C out.The youth movement is well underway in the desert, as the Coyotes opened their season with five rookies on their roster. So has Doans role as a captain taken on greater heft with the need to guide these young players? Not necessarily. In todays NHL, as Peters noted, the responsibility of taking care of young players falls less on one player.Coaches, for the most part, are considerably more player-friendly than they used to be 20, 30 years ago, Doan said. I think everyone has a little more say. Coaches are much more conscientious about the mental side of the game. And I think thats probably why there are teams without captains: because theyre trying to make sure they put everybody in a position to be successful. And they dont want to put undue pressure on guys. They see a guy coming up and theyre like, Well, this is a guy we want to be captain but we dont want to have to end up taking it away or changing anything in the future.Furthermore, teams seem much more focused on finding a captain who is likely to stay with them long-term, as moving one?can be risky business.And Peters would rather not rush into a decision on one of the leagues youngest and most improving franchises. We need to have a guy thats 100 percent on board with what were building here in Carolina, [who] believes in the direction were going, he said.Tradition has long been important in hockey. But the NHL has seen significant changes to its rules, collective bargaining agreement, All-Star Game and playoff formats in recent years, so the role of the captain could simply be the next thing to change. Some of the games most progressive minds, including Peters, could herald a change in how teams are led.When asked if having a captain is completely imperative in todays NHL, Peters didnt hesitate. Its not totally necessary, he said. If youre giving it out just for the sake of handing out the letter, youre doing the wrong thing. Buy Adidas Ultra Boost . Halladay signed a one-day contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday that allowed the veteran right-hander to retire as a member of team with which he broke into the majors and spent the bulk of his distinguished 16-year career. Cheap Adidas Shoes China . -- Sergey Tolchinksy scored his second goal of the game 3:56 into overtime as the Sault Ste. http://www.stansmithdiscount.com/discount-ultra-boost-shoes.html . Hazard cut in from the left and scored with a swerving right-footed shot for ninth goal of the season, which proved to be enough for the victory despite Chelseas forwards again lacking a cutting edge up front. Adidas Sneakers Stan Smith Sale .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. Cheap Nmds For Sale . With his new coach and six-time Grand Slam singles champion Boris Becker watching him during an official match for the first time, Djokovic appeared tentative early against the Slovakian player, who often appeared content to keep the ball in play. There are no immediate plans for Patent No. 0125691.The description contains plain words like computer, real-time and online. Figure 2, an accompanying diagram, shows the systems entire process in an eight-step flow chart that ends with determine payout of event.The patent application, published on May 6 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, remains pending.But dont let its apparent simplicity fool you: This patent application is held by Microsoft, and it could be a critical piece of a future with widespread legal sports betting in the United States.Over four months, ESPN interviewed more than 50 sources representing a vast spectrum of interests and came away with numerous key findings about the future of American sports betting. Among them:? Congress is in the early stages of reviewing federal gambling laws and plans to introduce comprehensive legislation that will address sports betting, daily fantasy sports and other forms of online gaming.? Some of the worlds largest tech companies are expected to emerge as bookmaking giants that will compete against established U.S. and international sportsbook operators, state lotteries, Native American gaming interests and fantasy sports sites for a share of the market.? Stock market-like sports betting exchanges will be created to cater to the more sophisticated bettor, while also presenting the sports leagues with a potential opportunity to profit directly off of legal sports gambling.? Robots -- fueled by dynamic algorithms, motion-tracking cameras and microchips capable of ingesting troves of real-time data from athletes bodies -- will increasingly dominate high-stakes sports betting.? Legalization may produce pitfalls, including increases in gambling addiction and gambling-related advertising, which have plagued other jurisdictions with legal sports betting.While opinions vary on when a legal market may take shape in the U.S., who the biggest bookmakers of the future will be and if American society can handle what will be a dramatic shift in sports culture, experts almost unanimously agree with NBA commissioner Adam Silvers prediction: Expanded legalized sports betting is inevitable.In this three-part series, ESPN examines a future landscape with widespread legalized sports betting in the United States, beginning with potential paths to legalization and what the resulting marketplace may resemble.Part 1: The marketplaceCapitol Hill, the states and paths to legalizationThe mainstream acceptance of sports betting is peaking. Cash-strapped states are starting to see sports betting as a potential source of revenue more than a detriment to society. The point spread and betting action in Las Vegas are now popular storylines for every big game, and for the first time, a commissioner of a major professional sports league has come out in support of legalizing sports betting. There simply has never been this much momentum to legalize sports betting outside of Nevada.But momentum and definitive results are two very different things. As of now, state-sponsored gambling is illegal outside of a handful of states, with single-game wagering permitted only in Nevada.Some in the U.S. government feel its time for a change and that the current federal gambling laws --most notably the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), Wire Act of 1961 and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 -- arent appropriate anymore and need updating.The laws need a wholesale review to see how they can actually work together and create a fairer playing field for all types of gambling, both online and offline, including sports betting and daily fantasy sports, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., of New Jersey told ESPN. At the same time, we must ensure the laws are actually creating an environment of integrity and accountability, and include strong consumer protections.I plan to continue discussions with the key stakeholders and then will introduce comprehensive legislation to finally update these outdated laws. In addition, lobbying efforts led by the American Gaming Association are set to begin in 2017. The next [U.S.] president is going to have that issue of legalizing sports betting on their desk, AGA CEO and president Geoff Freeman has said.But all the sports leagues are not on board, yet. They are, however, strategically positioning themselves for widespread legal sports wagering. The NCAA and NFL remain publicly opposed to legalization. The NHL and Major League Baseball, while showing signs of a softening stance, have stopped short of coming out in full support. Even the NBA, by far the most outspoken proponent of legalization among the sports leagues, has repeatedly said its not ready to contribute to direct lobbying efforts.Weve been supportive of legalized sports betting, and well continue to be supportive, NBA senior vice president and assistant general counsel Dan Spillane told ESPN. If someone in Congress were to ask our view on a bill thats proposed, then Im sure wed be happy to participate and weigh in. The leagues have financial stakes in daily fantasy sports sites and a sudden interest in Las Vegas, and have struck deals with data companies that fuel the international sports betting market.The NFL, NBA and NHL have deals with Sportradar, a Switzerland-based conglomerate that is the parent company of Betradar, a major player in the global sports betting industry, and Major League Baseball has partnered with Genius Sports, a multi-faceted gambling data firm located in London. Even the NCAA has a commercial affiliation with Sportradar, with the Pac-12 conference using the services of CG Analytics, a subsidiary of a prominent Nevada sportsbook.These partnerships represent a profound shift in the leagues position on line monitoring, the task of tracking gambling data in an attempt to identify unusual moves or unnatural money. As recently as 2007, representatives of the NBA, NCAA, NHL, MLB, and NFL sent a letter to Congress dismissing the value of line monitoring.In addition, game integrity concerns -- often cited as a reason to oppose regulated sports betting -- are now increasingly being used as a reason to support legalized sports wagering, given the ability to track statistical data.While the leagues stances are shifting gradually, experts say sports betting of the legal variety is still years away from arriving at your local casino or on your mobile phone.My heart says it should be one to three [years], former NBA commissioner David Stern told ESPN in September. My head says its between five and 10.Individual states might not wait that long.New Jersey has invested millions of dollars in legal fees while fighting the sports leagues and challenging PASPA (the federal prohibition on state-sponsored sports betting) in its ongoing case that began back in 2012. In October, New Jersey filed its second appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on this issue.This summer, Pennsylvania passed a resolution urging Congress to lift the Federal ban on sports betting and to allow states that authorize, license and regulate casino gaming, including the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to legalize sports betting through its licensed facilities. And New York Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow is currently planning a 2017 legal challenge to PASPA.While its clear that states are already taking steps, it is unknown exactly how many would begin offering legal sports betting if the federal prohibition were lifted. Estimates range from less than half to as high as 48.[If] PASPA gets amended, I think youll see five to 10 states opt in quickly and offer it, Tim Wilmott, president and CEO of Penn National Gaming, Inc., said. There are places like Utah, Hawaii, Tennessee, some states down in the South, that I think are going to be slower to accept it.The landscape in some of the states that do opt in may be different than that in the United Kingdom, where sports betting is legal and retail bookmaking shops are commonplace on city streets. More conservative states likely will restrict sports betting to casinos and horse racing tracks; others may allow locations that sell lottery tickets to accept sports bets; and some will have betting kiosks at sports bars, gas stations and liquor stores.Eventually, though, almost all sports betting will take place online, experts say.Online is where everything is going, John McManus, executive vice president and general counsel for MGM Resorts International, told ESPN this summer. Thats where people are going to want to place bets. Thats where it makes sense to place bets and to be done safely.A widespread, fully mature online sports betting market in the U.S. would be the largest such market in the world, according to research from industry trade publication GamblingCompliance. By the time the U.S. gets to that point, though, everything about sports betting will have changed, from the way bets are placed, what games and events are the most popular to bet on and even who is taking the bets.Providing a mechanism for a state to legalize [sports betting] doesnt have to be rocket science, said Sue Schneider, an industry veteran who has testified before Congress and consults on gaming issues. The rest of the world has been doing this successfully for decades. We just need to look around to see the best practices.Up until recently, I always felt that sports betting would never be legalized in my lifetime, Schneider added. With rumblings among some of the sports leagues [that] seem to realize that the writing is on the wall, I already see a change in the landscape.The bookmakers of the futureWhile different avenues to legalization are explored in the U.S., several big-name companies are already lining up in anticipation of what would be a major shift in American sports culture.Familiar Nevada and European sports betting operators, like MGM and William Hill, are eyeing the opportunity, and state lotteries and Native American gaming interests also want a seat at the negotiating table, experts told ESPN. Online daily fantasy sports sites, with their infrastructure and established player bases in a coveted demographic, would appear to be in good position to offer traditional sports betting if made legal, as well.The biggest bookies in the future might not be the names youd expect, though.A review of recent patents in the betting genre revealed Microsoft, Sony, Reuters and Wall Street financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald to be either existing holders or applicants. A number of individual entrepreneurs are in the mix, too; patent No. 8,632,392, for example, was issued in 2014 for systems and methods for enabling remote device users to wager on micro events of games. And others have built virtual currency-based wagering systems designed to be implemented on social media platforms like Facebook.In 10 years time, I expect sports betting to be part of major telecommunications companies and data companies, said Chris Eaton, an integrity monitor and former investigator for INTERPOL. I see the large international conglomerates -- Bloomberg, Google, the massive data companies -- swallowing up most of the sports betting operations around the world and operating an international platform, with all of sports betting being essentially offered on the mobile device, the mobile platform.A Microsoft spokesperson said the company had nothing to share at this time regarding its patent for a betting exchange or any future interest in the sports betting industry.Microsofts patent coincides with a research paper by David Pennock, a principal researcher and assistant managing director for the company. Pennocks research produced an innovative wagering mechanism akin to pari-mutuel systems used in horse racing that Microsoft wanted to patent. There were no immediate plans for its use, Pennock said, but he does envision a future with tech companies involved in the sports betting world.I do think that theres a lot of technology involved thats not that trivial, especially for the more innovative things that I imagine are going to happen; so some of the technology companies may be better suited than an old-school sportsbook, Pennock said. I think maybe some of the technology companies are in better position to build the [betting] exchange in a better way.Mark Cuban, owner of the NBAs?Dallas Mavvericks?and outspoken proponent of expanding legal sports betting, agrees.ddddddddddddIn the short term, there will be a lot of attempts by companies big and small to use their own versions of big data to be predictive in sports, financial markets and other industries, Cuban told ESPN. In the long term, it will come down to what sources of information and which companies will help create the most powerful learning and reproductive algorithms and who will own those algorithms. I dont have that answer and neither does anyone else at this point.Nevada and offshoreIf sports betting is legalized and the tech titans do get into the bookmaking game, are Las Vegas days numbered as the epicenter of legal American sports betting? Is the traditional bookmaker an endangered profession?Art Manteris, one of the longest-tenured Nevada bookmakers, doesnt necessarily think so.Manteris believes the states 50-plus years of regulating sports betting are invaluable and envisions a scenario where Nevada would remain a central hub for sports betting in the U.S., with bets from other states transmitted through the Silver States established regulatory body and infrastructure.In a perfect world, things would flow into Nevada and there would be a point-of-consumption tax, just like there is in the U.K., Manteris explained. If theyre betting from Colorado or California, youll get a tax credit back to your state from where that bet emanated.Recently, Nevada has taken steps to position itself for such a scenario. The majority of the states books offer mobile sports betting in Nevada. In 2015, the state passed a bill clarifying that the states licensed operators could manage sports pools in other legal jurisdictions, and Nevada also has set up a scheme where out-of-state bettors can invest into sports betting entities -- similar to mutual funds -- that are managed from within the state.But some Nevada operators are also advocating for expanded legalization.MGM, William Hill and Boyd Gaming are among those that have joined the American Gaming Associations coalition aimed at lifting the federal prohibition. They appear willing to surrender the monopoly Nevada has enjoyed in exchange for the ability to expand into other jurisdictions and offer one of the rare forms of gambling that is growing: sports betting.An all-time high $4.2 billion was bet on sports in 2015 at Nevadas regulated books, the sixth straight year the industry enjoyed record handle. In each of the past three years, the states books have won more than $200 million, and they havent suffered a losing month since July 2013.While business is booming, Nevada remains a small portion of the enormous American sports betting pie. Experts estimate more than 90 percent of all sports betting in the U.S. takes place outside of Nevada, mostly through offshore sportsbooks located in the Caribbean and Central America.That behavior must change if the U.S. market is going to fully mature, but moving bettors from the unregulated market to a newer legal one wont be easy.There are dozens of online books, the largest handling more than a $1 billion a month during football season, an industry source said. For the most part, the offshore industry has evaded U.S. laws and continues to serve Americas thirst for sports betting without being saddled with added costs of regulation.We have to remain economically competitive with the offshore market, in order for it to go away, Joe Asher, CEO of William Hills U.S. operations, said. And, ultimately, that is what happens: People, given the choice, prefer to be in the legal, regulated market.Its going to take more than just offering competitive odds for a new regulated market to take a bite out of the established offshore market, one longtime offshore bookmaker told ESPN.If they want to go against the offshore, they have to have the same type of menu that the offshore does, which includes all the props, all the live [betting], said Scott Kaminsky, a veteran of the offshore market and now the sportsbook director at TheGreek.com. If they do it the right way and you can bet anywhere inside the U.S., I think theyll maybe convert 35-40 percent of the people off of the offshore back to the states.Marisa Lankester, author of Dangerous Odds: My Life Inside an Illegal Billion Dollar Sports Betting Operation, believes offshore operators will continue to use cutting-edge technology to stay ahead of the game, even if the U.S. legalizes sports betting.Sources said operators desiring secure phone lines have considered purchasing an entire telecommunications company on an island, and some bookmakers are already moving operations onto yachts in international waters. A commercial satellite engineer told ESPN that such technology already exists.This is the modern version of the old riverboat casino and my source tells me it is already being done, Lankester said. Satellites have this capability, and successful bookmakers have the means to invest in yachts, batteries, et cetera.Theres also a platform being designed that would take the bookmaker completely out of the equation.I see potential for large bets or bets with untaxed money being taken through the anonymity of the dark web, Lankester said.Enter Augur, where anonymity rules.Every stock exchange -- and its sports betting cousins Betfair, Matchbook and Smarkets -- is centralized, meaning each bet starts and ends in the same place. Augur, which recently entered beta, is a decentralized prediction market fueled by virtual currency.Users are free to offer or match a plethora of sports-related options. Many markets will pose binary Yes or No questions, like, Will the Chicago Cubs win the World Series in 2016? for example. The Augur platform will be available to anyone willing to deal in e-money.Jerry Brito, the executive director for Coin Center, a nonprofit research advocacy center focused on cryptocurrency and computing technologies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, believes a decentralized sports betting exchange market is the future.You can imagine a decentralized sports books that is provably fair, Brito said. Its cheaper, because the cut that the book takes is incredibly small, because theres no company there, theres no overhead, besides the network. And because its potentially global, it could be a really big book with a lot of bets. Thats going to be very interesting to watch.Peer-to-peer online bettingSophisticated sports bettors in the future may be able to place their bets on U.S.-based peer-to-peer exchanges as well. The process for regulatory approval of such betting platforms has already started at the federal level and in Nevada, multiple experts said.As early as 2008, records obtained by ESPN show that Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and others in the technology sector made written filings to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in support of expanding so-called prediction markets into the public sphere. The CFTC, which regulates futures and options markets, is currently considering the legality of an exchange-type platform that could include sports, two sources told ESPN. A CFTC spokesman declined to comment on any pending case that was not yet in the public record.A betting exchange is the functional equivalent of a stock exchange for sports, where bettors can offer or take positions on sports events. In such an exchange, every bettor becomes a miniature bookie, proposing potential wagers and waiting for one or more others to bite. For example, a $100 point-spread bet on a certain team could be matched by another bettor in full or by four bettors at $25 each. Its a peer-to-peer model, with the platform charging a commission fee.In 2010, Betfair, the mammoth London-based betting exchange that revolutionized sports gambling in Europe a decade ago, was granted an American patent titled Betting Exchange System. The 22-page documentation for patent No. 7,690,991 includes a subsection on point-spread betting, noting that it is particularly popular in the U.S.Betfair began operating a horse racing exchange betting platform in New Jersey earlier this year after several years of legal wrangling. Smarkets, a smaller betting exchange operator based in Europe, recently announced plans to open an office in the U.S.I think more and more the peer-to-peer, exchange style will be the way that wagering happens in the future, both in terms of gambling and in terms of prediction markets, Pennock, the Microsoft researcher, said.The exchange model would seemingly give the sports leagues an opportunity to directly monetize sports betting, something experts said may be all thats stopping them from reversing their decades-long opposition to legalization.If the sports leagues directly benefit, then there may be more of a buy-in from them, said Tobias Moskowitz, a Yale finance professor and co-author of Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won.In the exchange model, the leagues wouldnt have a stake in the outcome, like a traditional bookmaker. Instead, they could profit off of how much is wagered through a trading commission, tacking on a data surcharge or a right to offer bets type of licensing fee as is found in other countries.Not everyone believes the exchange model will be the dominant platform in a future regulated market, though. Asher, William Hills CEO in the U.S, said the exchange is the niche product. The mass-market product is the traditional form of sports betting like we have in Nevada, he added.The NBAs Spillane, while familiar with the exchange model, says the league hasnt determined whether a certain betting platform is better than the rest.Legalized sports betting shouldnt select one subset of the industry, necessarily, to be the one, as opposed to having regulations in place that make sure whatever model ultimately is used or wins the market is going to be something that provides adequate protections from an integrity and consumer standpoint, Spillane said. One of the goals is to give people who are interested in betting on sports an incentive to switch from illegal markets to legal markets. And backing or selecting one particular form of betting to the exclusion of others, Im not sure thats going to accomplish that goal.Paul Clement, the lead lawyer for the five leagues (NCAA, NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL) in the ongoing New Jersey sports betting case said that a permissible exception to PASPA would be wagers up to $1,000 between individuals. Clement described it as a friends and family plan. In a court decision in September, a panel of judges endorsed Clements position as illustrative of measures states could take that wouldnt run afoul of the federal ban.Gaming regulators in Nevada also are considering sports wagering exchanges. Quinton Singleton, a vice president for sports betting technology provider NYX Gaming Group, has been writing regulations for a potential Nevada sports exchange and expects movement in 2017. In addition, the Silver State Sports Exchange is working to get approval for a phone app that would allow anyone located in Nevada to offer bets, but only gaming license holders, like the states sportsbooks, could accept wagers posted on the exchange.The books will be able to take whatever they need to satisfy their particular risk for the day, said Silver State Sports Exchange founder Pete Korner. We think were going to increase handle, increase churn and therefore profitability as the state as well.Looking aheadIn a 2012 deposition, former baseball commissioner Bud Selig described sports gambling as evil and the deadliest of all things that can happen to sports. Four years later, a more pragmatic approach is now emerging among sports league brass, government policymakers and law enforcement, signaling a future with expanded legal sports betting in the U.S. appears to be on the horizon.We think the integrity of the game is the most important thing, and we believe that our current position is the right way to be able to handle that, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told The Associated Press in April. But on the other hand, if changes happen, well be prepared for those.Coming in Part 2 on Thursday: Who will be the bettors of the future? ' ' '