I've been sidetracked on many occasions from a career in writing to one in technology. My biggest adventure was funding the first regional ISP, Pavilion Internet in 1993.

I became initially interested in technology as a child from listening to my uncle, who was a chief scientific adviser to the Canadian Prime Minister, talk with absolute passion about it all. Then my first writing job provided me with a great introduction to computer technology back in 1970. I had to fill 12 one-hour TV programmes about computers. At that time computing power at NASA was equal to today's average laptop.

It's awesome to recall researching for the programme, and finding the first ever computer game, which was the result of a term paper written at MIT, Boston and comprised of four rockets, fired missiles and a solar system. And then to think that when I asked a tutor about the possibility of a chess program giving a grand master some competition, he replied that it would take more people than there are on earth – to the power of 10. And a computer the size of the Soviet Union.

When I started writing novels in my late-twenties I was introduced to the internet as a research tool. A very kind man offered to do some research for me on the internet, by way of introducing me to its potential, and I didn't think much more of it until two days later a jiffy bag arrived with 250 names and addresses. In '92 this was awesome and would have taken six months by standard research.

It wasn't long after that I was trying to get funding for Pavilion Internet, the brainchild of a student at Sussex University, and the investment companies were saying the internet would be a passing fad. They said it wouldn't replace telephone and fax. It was also quite a hairy time because the internet was still very much the domain of a select few. Within our first months of operating we actually received death threats from people who believed we were wrong to make something commercial from the Internet.

I have ready answers to such criticism. First, I'm a passionate believer in the internet because communication is the only way to achieve peace in the world. The internet is demonised for crime, for instance pornography, but it has liberated a huge amount of people: the first information about Tianaman Square was on the Net, after all.

It's also worth considering how it has bought back the art of letter writing, albeit in the form of e-mail, and that's certainly compensation for the lack of human interaction that comes with using computers. E-mails will become historical documents, just like in the last century. They are also more economical – you can ask a direct question whereas by phone you need to exchange pleasantries. I think my excitement stems from a belief that technology opens up new possibilities for the human race, and so it's the roots of progress. Technology will liberate rather than destroy us. After all, we're not that smart as species that we don't need some help.

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