Bob George wrote: > > The A.I. known as "Day Brown" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Bill Howard, PC MAG p71, 3/12/02: > > "yes, the microprocessor inside a 2ghz PC works 10,000 times > > as fast as the one in my first PC. But it's still as much a > > struggle to create three-up mail-merge labels in Microsoft > > Word as it was with WordStar 3 in 1982. [And need I point > > out that this was done in DOS?] > > [...]
> Note the emphasis on HISTORY's most important advances, not OS or > computers. This contradicts, and in fact makes a mockery of the > assertion that we're in an "era of diminishing returns." Diminishing returns are not no returns. which I think was his point. Whether we in the western cultures have portables that can do all things at all times from all places will prolly have less impact than when the other 5 billion on this planet have access to just a fixed platform with reasonably convenient access. And whether we can manipulate full motion graphics will be less important than whether the other 5 billion can have access to un-censored information in plain text just like this. As Howard pointed out, it was one thing for a zealot to start a riot in a beer hall, and quite another for him to rile up a whole nation and start a financial panic. He will not need anything more than ascii access to do that if he has the skill to spin a tale well. So on the one hand, the technological advances are increasingly trivial, while the sociological impact is rather like the Chinese glyph for 'danger' which includes that of 'opportunity'. The impact of a SURVPC level platform being globally ubiquitous is an increasingly dangerous, but also, a liberating opportunity. To unsubscribe from SURVPC send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe SURVPC in the body of the message. Also, trim this footer from any quoted replies. More info can be found at; http://www.softcon.com/archives/SURVPC.html
