Those not excited by "techno-transcendance" might like to read a review of several books about the quality of being always technologically connected to everyone everywhere. It can be read at:
http://www.nplusonemag.com/lingering A passage in the review that I found particularly telling was: " . . . it is for the same reason worth recognizing the general sensuous poverty of online experience. The sound quality of the audio clips is poor, as is the resolution of the video clips. The prose (in addition to being musically and intellectually inferior to what is available in any number of ready-to-hand books) appears as pixels on plastic rather than ink on paper, and is much less pleasing to the eye. My buttocks and my back are also less happy when I'm online; it's much nice reading in bed." I was reminded of Pirsig's observation in Chapter 22 of Lila: "The world was no doubt in better shape intellectually and technologically but despite that, somehow, the "quality" of it was not good. There was no way you could say why this quality was no good. You just felt it." Platt On 6 Jun 2009 at 13:18, Krimel wrote: > Arlo, John, Andrea, Whoever: > > I have witnessed several cultural transformations in my life time. I saw > stereo replace mono and VHS triumph over Beta. I was on the sidelines as CPM > lost to DOS and DOS to GUI. I saw Netscape eaten by a monopoly. > > Two moments stand out for me in that time. The first was when I connected a > 300 baud AppleCat modem to an outlaw Franklin Ace 1000 computer. I dialed > into a BBS system in Atlanta and was able to transfer a file from one > computer to another. > > This was 10 years before anyone talked about an internet. But I understood > in that moment that this was something completely different. Computers > talking directly to other computers... There was no way I could imagine what > could come of that but I knew it would be important. > > I saw something that important three days ago and I want to share it with > you. This is perhaps not as earth shaking as the growth of the internet but > certainly more significant than when I realized, with the invention of the > Bluetooth headset, that talking to yourself in public was no longer a > reliable sign of psychosis. > > Ok, this might seem a little complicated but remember it is going to change > the world. The first part of this revolution is a tiny bit of software that > can turn a cell phone into a wireless router. > > Ok, if you know what that means, I shouldn't need to explain further but for > those who don't, this means that you can always carry with you, your own > personnel internet hot spot. You can access the internet in your car or on a > plane or while camping in Utah. Until recently this meant that you could > access the internet on a little tiny mobile screen that you could barely > read. > > But if your phone has wifi capability, you can now share your connection > with any and all computers in range. Now this would just be of interesting > to Geeks like me until part two of the revelation kicks in. Netbooks. > > Several netbooks have come on the market recently that offer up to 9.5 hours > of battery life. This means you are no longer tethered to the wall. The > computers are so small that you are no longer even tethered to a desk. You > can hold them in one hand and type with the other. They are big enough to > actually use but small enough to fit in a woman's purse. > > What is interesting about this from an MoQ point of view is, first of all > the injection of dynamic quality involved in having that many people, that > interconnected all of the time. But of equal interest is the static latch > involved. All of this technology is actually at step backwards. > > The netbook processors are very very small and use very little electricity. > In terms of power they are several generations backwards. If desktop > computing is using quad-core 3 Ghz then netbooks are using single core 1.6 > Ghz. > > In fact most of them are sold with a Windows XP downgrade. So in order to > get the most out of the machine you downgrade all of your software and > hardware. Not only that but the internet connection through your wireless > cell phone router is going to be a whole lot slower than through your cable > modem. It is much faster then dial-up but still slower than you are used to. > > But even having a static latched downgraded computer has enormous potential. > I souped mine up a bit. For example I put a 500 gig harddrive in a 10" > netbook. On it I have about 65,000 books and articles, The screen size is > about that of a Kindle so reading any of those is now about like holding a > regular sized book in your hand. I also have several thousand songs, and > hundreds of lectures on everything from "Making Love the Bruce Campbell > Way," to a 25 lectures from UC Berkley on psychpharmacology. > > If all you wanted was an iPod. This is an iPod that can hold every song you > have ever heard and you can download more while you are listening. You can > stream episodes of "Lost" to the palm of your hand while waiting at a bus > stop. > > I am still in the testing phase here but I can tell that this has > possibilities that are impossible to foresee. Here is a simple example. My > civil union partner and I both have netbooks with webcams in them. We can > now take a walk around our neighborhood and both of us Skype our grandkid in > Boston while we walk. > > Oh yeah and this message is the first thing I have actually tried to type on > this little beast. While it will take some getting used to it is not too > bad. This little static latch is now my main computer. This is the first > time in more than 30 years that I have actually looked forward to > downgrading my computing horsepower. That alone is revolutionary... > > Krimel Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
