Here's some brief, witty commentary on technology from Douglas Adams. These snippets can be found in
The Salmon of Doubt, which I just finished reading.
- Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
- Anything that's invented between when you're fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
- Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.
We notice things that don't work. We don't notice things that do. We notice computers, we don't notice pennies. We notice e-book readers, we don't notice books.
We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works. How do you recognize something that is still technology? A good clue is if it comes with a manual.
2 comments:
Crap. Thirty-five? That's not all that far away. Will I be thinking the XBox 3 or 4 is against the natural order of things? *shudders*
LONG LIVE THE GAMER! I'll be playing even when the arthritis makes every button-push torture. Maybe they'll have cured arthritis by then. I can only hope.
XBox 3 or 4.... Hmmm, maybe it'll be like that game they play on Red Dwarf -- "Better Than Life." Whoa.
I suppose we'll see either a cure for arthritis or a controller that plugs into your brain. I really think the second one is more likely. Already there's a device that can react to brain signals. It was designed for those paralyzed from the neck down.
Some days, I wish someone would make something to help those paralyzed from the neck up. ;-)
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