Extropian Kids

Rick Knight (rknight@platinum.com)
Mon, 25 Aug 97 10:26:33 CST


EvMick wrote:

As for the cost...it's getting there...project a little while into the
future and what will a multimedia net capable computer cost? I
dunno...but a whole lot less than it does now...which is about the
cost of a console type color tv I think...(been a long time since I
bought a tv...so im not sure)

Rick Knight adds:

The whole idea of the VERY personal computer needs (and I think is
preparing for) an overhaul. I have read about (and jointly envision)
a computer with no QWERTY (or perhaps just an optional keyboard)
interface, incorporating pen (like a Pilot) and voice interactivity.
It will have smart paper (already in development) which will
essentially be technologically-realized "magic slates" (remember
those?). The "paper" will get fed instructions from the CPU
binder/cover. An interface will enable any work, published or not, to
be displayed on the "pages" and read like a book...text at first, then
color pictures, then full-motion video, all on a thin piece of paper
that has been assembled to respond intelligently rather than just
passively receive some ink blots. The trees will be so pleased that
we've made this paradigm shift and so, I imagine, ultimately will our
lungs (as long as we're bound to using them).

Language has served us well for many centuries but we're still
clinging to it like it's the end all and be all of communication.
Communication needs to be streamlined. In language, an abundance of
words need to be eliminated, icons incorporated, media forms enmeshed
to provide the most time-efficient method of conveying information
well. Right now, video is in the hands of major corporation
interests: the Time-Warners, The ABC-Disneys. They all have their own
profit-making agenda. With the advent of the Internet, information is
now slowly being dislodged from these bulwarks (although they infest
the Internet as well...I'm hoping their investment in this medium will
be either their undoing or their rehabilitation, either would work).

Once information becomes ubiquitous in its availability, I suspect
business as usual will be a moot point. Market economy notions are
headed for the scrap heap. And questions like Lily poses of Picard in
the Star Trek: First Contact about the enormous cost of a starship
will happen substantially sooner than the 24th century.

So, start preparing that essay kids! Here's the topic:

"What would you do if you could do what you dream of rather than what
is expected of you?"

Regards
Rick