[Air-L] [CITASA] the cell-less future

Samuel Klein sj at laptop.org
Thu Jul 22 17:09:51 PDT 2010


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 at 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 at list.citasa.org <citasa-bounces at list.citasa.org>
> To: Ho Young Yoon <hoyoungemail at gmail.com>
> Cc: Barry Wellman <wellman at chass.utoronto.ca>; aoir list <air-l at aoir.org>; section asa <citasa at 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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>



-- 
Samuel Klein          identi.ca:sj           w:user:sj



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