When the media talks about the Internet, they talk about the same 3 things: sales, ads, and how safe it is to buy things on the Net. Well listen up you greedy, whiney, amoral Americans, the Internet has more important implications for humanity than lining pockets.So I asked our resident Musea psychic Crystal Ball to gaze into the future of the Internet to see what she could see. And this is what happened.
--Art S. Revolutionary
CRYSTAL: First I see that the Art Revolution sweeps the nation like the invasion of the Beatles. Now I can rest easier - my neck muscles relax. Art now in this future time [she points to the glass ball] acts like the spout on a tea kettle - it lets the steam of the world whistle away!
EDITOR ART: Wow! What's next?
CRYSTAL: Closercloser Oh here it is: the future of the Internet.
ART: What is it? What do you see?
CRYSTAL: [with animation] The "BOX".
ART: A box? (This is going to be a very short article). Just a box?
CRYSTAL: No I didn't say a box. I said the Box. Let me explain!
The box has the works in it. It's activated by your voice commands. (You program it by saying a series of words. This series gives the computer your take on every English sound. Then it responds to your speech patterns and commands exclusively).
It's wireless (bouncing off a wall of satellites that circle the globe).
It has a cool built-in handle and stand.
It comes in designer colors.
It's about as thin as a notebook and has a screen on one side.
ART: But Crystal, what does it do?
CRYSTAL: It's a phone with a camera so you can see the person you're talking to.
It's an electronic notebook that holds all your personal notes and correspondence.
It can do any kind of financial transaction from buying a small gumball (which are now
75 cents each) to major bank deposits, etc.
It's a camera that not only takes photos but saves, catalogues, and prints them out.
It's a video camera (and can store and edit video too).
It's a typewriter and printer. (The bulk of the weight of the box is from the blank pages of
paper that it holds and the light plastic casing.) The electronics inside are virtually
weightless they're so small.
It's a radio playing all the stations of the world.
It's a TV that shows all the live TV shows that are going on in the world.
It's connected to the net - phew I need a break. The net brings up a lot of images.
ART: [15 minutes later] Ready to go again Crystal?
CRYSTAL: Yes, now where were we? Oh yes. The box is connected to the net, which is connected to the thigh bone, which is connected to the - Just some droll humor, editor.
ART: Droll indeed!
CRYSTAL: Anyway on this net there is first:
Great libraries of info. You can call up text, photos, or videos of anything in the public
domain: movies, art, literature, romance novels (my favorite) etc. Also for a monthly
fee or a small one time of points or pennies, you can call up any of the following:
Any or video or documentary or cartoon, etc.
Any radio show from the past.
Any art object in public hands (and see it from all sides if it's sculpture or architecture)
Any record or recording - a boombox so to speak.
All the news of that day or any day from the past.
ART: That's extraordinary!
CRYSTAL: There's more. (She shifts in her seat, drinks from a water glass and continues) It's a chatty little box and it interacts with anyone with anyone anywhere:
There are chat lines,
An online college (and all kinds of tutors),
Job searches even interviews with possible employees,
business deals, conferences, (safety meetings on Sunday mornings),
All the latest science papers,
An virtual art gallery with all the world's paintings and new ones hung up every day, and
A free speech forum.
Each box also allows that person to broadcast his own radio and TV station or post his
own artwork or writings or show his own films or photos,etc.
OOOOOOOOH look! [Art peers into the fog and sees nothing]
This is interesting! Each box leads to a Virtual City where you can pretend to be anyone
in any role and do anything - any adventure, explore the city, go into any
dark room - ah I see a lot of virtual sex here-I'll come back to this.
Oh finally the republician form of government is now a real democracy with all the
government business on camera and all voting done, not by senators or
representatives, but by the public. Each bill has to now get public approval! By the way, did I mention it has a headphone jack?
ART: That box is something. So futuristic; so out there.
CRYSTAL: [with a wave of her hand] Wait. I see further "The box" is now a pair
of glasses. The microchips are in the ear stems with each transparent lens a computer
screen. Hey, wait a minute! It's 3D too!