By 1960, the field was well developed, particularly at M.I.T. and Bell Laboratories, and was attracting many of the brightest graduate students in Engineering and Mathematics throughout the world. This was a golden era of research. It was easy to find simple and elegant basic problems that had never before been investigated. There was faith in the value of basic research both in academia and governments, and the job market was superb. The evolution of Shannon's theories were increasingly combined with control and communication research stemming from Norbert Wiener's work. Similarly, the more digital aspects of information theory were being combined with early work in computer science.

This golden era appears to have gradually ended in the late 70's. The problems of interest became more complex and diffuse, and the earlier support for basic research was increasingly replaced by an impatience for rapid applications.

We use personal anecdotes, landmark events, and speculation to trace the impact of previous basic research in information theory and related mathematical sciences on current technology. We then try to understand appropriate roles for future basic research in the evolution of the information sciences.