Space Elevator in Ten Years?

At the Second Annual International Conference on the Space Elevator, science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke predicted a space elevator could be built in 10 years. Conference attendees seem to be overly optimistic, though, with an estimated price of US$6 billion (less than the space station or the Apollo program), and a reliance on single-fiber carbon nanotubes for the structure (something that may be possible but hasn't even been proven in the lab yet).