John Berry <berry.joh...@gmail.com> wrote: What he [Clarke] did not envision is that electronic books are music are > often freely available either by or inspite of the publishers wishes. >
He did, actually. Maybe not in "Profiles" but he saw that coming long before most people did. As an author himself, he was not happy about it! As a programmer, I have never been thrilled by the ease with which software can be copied. Farming has always produced relative abundance, and in a way this was the > first labour saving activity, not that there is no effort, but clearly > effort is reduced over hunting and scavenging. > > I guess we have been on this path for a long time. > Indeed, this has always been the ultimate goal of technology. This is the inevitable outcome. It may turn out to be a nightmare. People may be afflicted by ennui, with no goals or purpose left in life. As the saying goes, "be careful what you wish for." The dangers were best described by George Orwell in "The Road to Wigan Pier," in the section that begins, "Every sensitive person has moments when he is suspicious of machinery and to some extent of physical science. . . ." See also the part below that, beginning: "The function of the machine is to save work. In a fully mechanized world all the dull drudgery will be done by machinery, leaving us free for more interesting pursuits. . . ." http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200391.txt I say that's not our problem. Let our grandchildren and great grandchildren deal with it. One thing at a time. > All these promises of the future seem to also have existed when land was > freely available and people owned their own little farm. > If only they also had a washing machine, dishwasher, car, > internet/phone/TV... > I expect land will once again be available in unlimited amounts once we perfect the space elevator and we terraform Mars. - Jed
