When this weeks ‘dated’ reading, predicted 2020 to be little more then a “dungheap” where offices would be paper free and publishing would be electronic, I was questioning whether Nelson was clairvoyant, because 5 years out and that pile is growing.
Nelson’s piece carried utopian connotations. Lots of talk of “hope” and the future. Nelson outlines his hope for project Xanadu and hypertext. Simplicity and liberation were his intentions. I wonder what he would think now.
It’s even cooler that in the 40’s a physicist Vannevar Bush theorized a connection where a reader could read one text, which directly links to another…and another…and another….? How hip was he?
It all seems quite utopian. I mean sure the Internet has made it easy for us to gather info and learn but has this ease impacted, “old school”, innate ways of communication? Is the ease of communicating overpowering the need to communicate effectively for emotional and physical interactions?
Just a thought
-Felicia-
