From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Mon Aug 05 2002 - 03:53:11 MDT
Michael Wiik wrote:
> Samantha Atkins <samantha@objectent.com> wrote:
>
>
>>Who wants to be tethered to a bloody house? Cyborgs require
>>mobile internet connectivity.
>>
>
> I agree perfectly, and while I'm perhaps not quite fully there yet
> equipment-wise I don't see what's available technologically as the
> limiting factor.
It is certainly limiting when even in Silicon Valley I can't
take a laptop and wireless card and access the Internet even
from a conference room, much less the park. How exactly are we
going to seriously augment intelligence with computers if
communication with more computers and information than we can
personally carry is not available?
> Example: some recent contract work required quaint
> Quill & Parchment timesheets, complete with a Kafkaesque nightmare of
> undated, version-less, hard-to-parse regulations and multiple
> Quill-based signoffs combining to form a simmering stew of temporal
> pollution, spewing shit into the future much like cooking tomato sauce
> leaves crusty droplets on your stove, all paid for with your tax
> dollars. After mapping it out logically I proved that I could never
> again ever leave the house without a hefty cache of such ancient scrolls
> in my backpack. Cost of interplanetary package delivery would make it
> impossible to travel much beyond Luna, or anywhere w/o a nearby Fedex
> dropoff point for that matter.
>
hahahahaha. Good one! And you actually accepted this contract?
Times really are rough.
> But the available technology seems not the limiting factor. The regs are
> (assuming I want to get paid). Vinge's Unthinking Depths are to be found
> deep in the dusty basements and spiderwebbed catacombs of bureaucracy.
>
True enough. But so? We need enough tech to leave these
dinosaurs in the dust. Yes?
- samantha
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