Sandra wrote:
The co-op I am living in has a fledgling internal computer
network. About a quarter of the units are wired. The idea
is to facilitate communication.
Hummm, that is interesting. A way to connect people locally. With
the right cultural attitudes this could lead to some interesting
interactions. Ride sharing, errand combining, cooperative child
care, problem solving, meal sharing, etc. If you don't feel like
interacting then store up messages till later.
Minimal hardware is needed for connecting to this internal
network. I work mostly from a 486 running Linux, and the
public terminal in the common room is a 386. One of the
big obstacles to getting people connected is the perception
that computers mean games, and that a computer has to be
expensive to be useful.
Ah... It is good to know that people are using Linux. If enough
of us started using it we might be able to force some standards
and build stable user platforms. No more virus. Fewer bugs.
Standard methods which can be taught once. Linux would need
some improvements to make it friendlier for new users... a
possibility.
I can envision a future where computers make cars completely unnecessary.
My vision gets fuzzy when we start eliminating cars. That is OK,
we don't have to develop a perfect vision at this point in time.
The next step is probably to introduce efficient cars and make the
road hogs we have today too expensive. Also, mass transport will
begin a slow comeback at some point in time. You can see the
auto companies planning for all this and doing research on
efficient cars.
For a short while Honda was selling an Electronic Vehicle that
some thought would grow into an alternative. Then, a few
weeks ago they stopped making it. The cost was $53,000 and
the batteries did not last very long. Now there is speculation
they will try again with a hybrid vehicle (half electric
and half gas). See:
http://evworld.com/interviews/sporton.html
jeff
