Friday, September 25, 2009
Die Zukunft ist Jetzt!
Right now I am typing these words on a piece of rectangular plastic with a liquid crystal screen with a nine inch diagonal. My pressure on the keys is transformed into electrical impulses and transmitted via a wireless server here in Potsdamer Platz, where I am waiting to see an Imax edition of Harry Potter 6 with a German dub. The signal reaches Google and Blogger's respective servers and within minutes, a message that I type sitting near a fountain in Berlin reaches you halfway around the world.
There are no wires.
The connection is as quick as any I've dealt with here in Europe.
And the marvelous thing is, this public information network can only grow in size, speed, and, I hope accessibility.
The digital divide is real. There are people, many people, who do not have access to the Web and the educational and social benefits that it provides.
But I have a feeling that they would be among the first to tell me, if they were to join me under the glass canopy of the Sony Center, here in the heart of Berlin, just how impressive, how magical our technologies make our lives. We remain dependent upon them, more so than ever, to the point where we become jaded or take them for granted. Nonetheless, I consider myself fortunate to be alive at a time where such seemingly trivial things as this blog post can be written and distributed globally in mere minutes.
The not-too-distant future that we all dreamed about fifty years ago? Well, it may not have any flying cars, but it looks like we're getting there a lot sooner than expected.
Right now I am typing these words on a piece of rectangular plastic with a liquid crystal screen with a nine inch diagonal. My pressure on the keys is transformed into electrical impulses and transmitted via a wireless server here in Potsdamer Platz, where I am waiting to see an Imax edition of Harry Potter 6 with a German dub. The signal reaches Google and Blogger's respective servers and within minutes, a message that I type sitting near a fountain in Berlin reaches you halfway around the world.
There are no wires.
The connection is as quick as any I've dealt with here in Europe.
And the marvelous thing is, this public information network can only grow in size, speed, and, I hope accessibility.
The digital divide is real. There are people, many people, who do not have access to the Web and the educational and social benefits that it provides.
But I have a feeling that they would be among the first to tell me, if they were to join me under the glass canopy of the Sony Center, here in the heart of Berlin, just how impressive, how magical our technologies make our lives. We remain dependent upon them, more so than ever, to the point where we become jaded or take them for granted. Nonetheless, I consider myself fortunate to be alive at a time where such seemingly trivial things as this blog post can be written and distributed globally in mere minutes.
The not-too-distant future that we all dreamed about fifty years ago? Well, it may not have any flying cars, but it looks like we're getting there a lot sooner than expected.
Comments:
Post a Comment
