The problem with Douglas Adams is the beauty of the writing distracts from the the real message. I barely noticed this was about _advertising_ as most commentat

The problem with Douglas Adams is the beauty of the writing distracts from the the real message. I barely noticed this was about _advertising_ as most commentators here have picked up. To better understand a piece like this, remember that Adams is working as a professional writer and has to give his employer - a magazine here - something they want. In this case the vehicle is a story about magazines and how they are dysfunctional with respect to advertising. The real writing, as is always the case with Adams, is at a higher level, and is about how we stupidly build complexity, obfuscation, indirection and side effects into technological life, failing (or forgetting) to see the value of simpler and more humane configurations.