There has been a car accident. The ambulance team arrives and discovers one of the wounded is seriously injured, though they cannot establish the extent of the damage. One of the team examines the patient using a visor-mounted camera and microphone. The video and sound is relayed to a surgeon back at the hospital. From there a diagnosis is established and advice given to the emergency team.

This is just one of many ideas which Prof Peter Cochrane has made a reality. As head of research at British Telecom (BT) Laboratories, his job is to project into the future and plan for the next technology advances.

A former telephone lineman who joined BT in 1962, Prof Cochrane (51), outlined his vision of the future in a recent multimedia presentation to the Teltec Ireland chief executives' forum. Using a state-of-the-art Apple laptop he expanded on the future of network design, touched on the implications of the information age and demonstrated a prototype wrist computer.

These ideas, and others which have been the subject of BT research projects, have been included in Prof Cochrane's new book, Tips For Time Travellers which was published in Britain last month.

Prof Cochrane wants the information age transformed into an experience age by harnessing the knowledge that is available through networked computers. Soon virtual reality and software breeding will be commonplace - they already are at BT Labs.

"There is so much information being generated today that man will be unable to operate competitively without the assistance of intelligent machines which will sift through the mountains of data and return relevant items. Those who fail to use IT and telecommunications aggressively will find themselves obsolete virtually overnight, as faster competitors overtake them," he says.

He and his team have been running experiments which bring the virtual experience of a doctor simulating operations on screen to the level of real experience. This is achieved by teleporting sight, sound and touch into computer generated and inter-real worlds.

Prof Cochrane has been involved in a series of experiments in which Prof Tim O'Brien from Cappagh orthopaedic hospital in Dublin has been teleported to the inside of his registrar while the latter has been conducting an operation.

This was achieved by mounting micro miniature cameras above the eyes, and microphones above the ears of the registrar and then giving Prof O'Brien a virtual reality headset which effectively enables him to stand inside the registrar looking out.

Much of Prof Cochrane's work is based on pre-empting developments in the telecoms industry. He says new technologies such as mobile phones and the Internet are putting enormous pressure on BT's network. BT estimates that it could cost more than $46 billion (£30 billion) to overhaul its phone network. And by the time the company could afford to spend this kind of money, the overhaul would be out of date.

Prof Cochrane predicts that in 10 years' time, computers will be 1,000 times more powerful than today. "Machines of such power and capability will evolve human characteristics of adaptability, intelligence and personality." One of Prof Cochrane's teams recently employed biologists and entomologists to help them develop a software program modelled on ant colonies.

By sending out "ants", or intelligent agents, to explore alternate routes through a network, almost instantly, they each return with information on how long it took to travel between different parts of the network. With this information from thousands of ants, the network can reconfigure itself to bypass a problem in less than a second. This essentially means the network becomes self-managing.

The implications of such technology are astounding. Software that starts out in life not really doing anything can evolve to do remarkable things. The intelligent agents will be able to teach themselves. Or simply by observing human behaviour and habits they will be able to adapt data to human needs. Others will monitor systems and detect the causes of a fault before it occurs.

Prof Cochrane points to the example of pacemakers that can signal for help in the event of a fault. He suggests that 350 years from now all the parts of the human body will be replaceable by manmade bits and pieces.

But if we allow software to evolve itself, how do we know computers will not randomly mutate and spiral out of control?

"We don't. But we can develop rules and laws for artificial life and artificial intelligence along the lines of Azomov's laws of robotics avoiding anything that might be harmful to humans," says Prof Cochrane.

This all sounds terribly futuristic, but Prof Cochrane delivered his speech in Dublin sporting an electronic ring containing his personal details. Wearing this ring, and with the required technology installed in retail outlets, Prof Cochrane could choose an item off the shelf and walk out of the shop, avoiding queuing or cash or credit card payment. The transaction could be automatically debited to his account.

Keys, medical records, passport, bank details, insurance and social security could all be stored on this chip allowing instant identification and access to information with no physical effort involved.

Prof Cochrane considers the most logical storage place for this chip is under the skin, but in the meantime he will make do with his electronic signet ring.

Tips For Time Travellers, by Prof Peter Cochrane (Orion Business Books, £14.99 in Britain)