Ron Scott wrote:
I love this vision, and I hope you're right, but wireless transmissions have been foreseen, if you will - didn't Dick Tracy have wrist phones in the 1930s?
I would say a number of these things have been foreseen and have already come to pass for at least some of us. If you are reading this list, you probably have at least one cell phone. [That's slightly different from a personal contact number that is your permanent property, through which I can reach you via a number of channels; we're not there yet socially.] Craig Calhoun <Calhoun@ssrc.org> wrote:
But surely miniaturization doesn't stop at the scale of personal devices and control systems don't map neatly onto the scale of end-user devices.
Right. 'Supercomputers' are much more omnipresent than simply in personal devices, and we're fiddling with mother nature; some tools and capabilities say EAT ME or DRINK ME and others are built into our bodies. A surprising number of control systems can be decomposed in such a way that an individual can serve as a self-sufficient branch of a larger system. But now we're thoroughly off-topic. I would be happy to continue this discussion on a discussion list for long-range societal planning, though I don't know of an appropriate one off-hand. SJ
----- Original Message ----- From: citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org <citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org> To: Ho Young Yoon <hoyoungemail@gmail.com> Cc: Barry Wellman <wellman@chass.utoronto.ca>; aoir list <air-l@aoir.org>; section asa <citasa@list.citasa.org> Sent: Sat Jul 17 10:17:43 2010 Subject: Re: [CITASA] [Air-L] the cell-less future
As a civilization, we often have a difficult time visualizing the miniaturization and transfer of tools from central places to the individual.
One day, we will all be generating power, managing transmissions and communication, creating materials and prints, capturing and processing our own sounds and images, and running supercomputers - without leaving our personal space.
Other changes will depend on larger changes in how we conceive of society -- whether we will also all be maintaining our own information policies, enforcing social and legal standards, overseeing built infrastructure and initiating repairs, serving in notary and encryption capacities, serving as independent financial bodies, and providing physical security... all in our personal vicinity.
SJ
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