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I foresee storage density reaching the point that for most ordinary people "online" becomes rather unimportant. What would be the effects of technology when com

I foresee storage density reaching the point that for most ordinary people "online" becomes rather unimportant. What would be the effects of technology when computers behave as in early science fiction, as stand-alone oracles? [1] [1] https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/2048-information-unchained-and-even-schoolgirls-win-nobel-prizes https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/2048-informatio...

themodelplumber 4y ago
How would the appeal of streamers and live data/content settle out in that case? Sometimes context is available in the moment that makes it easier for all parties to consume and analyze in that moment as well. Since transient, ethereal meme culture is also basically emergent culture now, it's difficult not to also foresee a greater cultural divide in such a case. This is saying nothing of live data tools as well, even weather data...
- nonrandomstring 4y ago
  > How would the appeal of streamers and live data/content settle out in that case? It would be mostly unaffected. As another commenter (Michael) says, communication, news and collaboration are distinct from storage as needs/functions. What you say here is fascinating: > Since transient, ethereal meme culture is also basically emergent culture now, it's difficult not to also foresee a greater cultural divide in such a case. There have always been bookish or gossipy people. Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy both make note of that in stories about English culture. The balance of those qualities may have changed in the internet age. Perhaps the degree of reach via one-to-many communications has amplified the ephemeral gossip side. The scholarly life less so. Though it's enhanced by repositories like Gutenberg, Internet Archive and SciHub and the like, a "reader" (to use Bill Hicks's take) can still only process one media at a time. But as Ted Nelson pointed out, if you have all of the worlds writing at your fingertips, all hyperlinked and with awesome semantic search tools, reading becomes a quite different non-linear experience. That's something centralised walled gardens subtracted from the WWW as its 1990s conceit. That 90's vision of a multi-modal, multi-media "internet community" in which people read common news, converse and reference together hasn't really survived "Social Media". But then it was always a weal approximation to something like a group seminar in the university library rather than the town square or local pub.
michaelmrose 4y ago
If I could store all the worlds present information on the head of a pin I should still want to access the internet to find out how you feel about it or share my opinion on it with you. Virtually everything we do online isn't reading existing data its taking action on it by virtue of communication.

themodelplumber 4y ago

How would the appeal of streamers and live data/content settle out in that case? Sometimes context is available in the moment that makes it easier for all parties to consume and analyze in that moment as well. Since transient, ethereal meme culture is also basically emergent culture now, it's difficult not to also foresee a greater cultural divide in such a case. This is saying nothing of live data tools as well, even weather data...

nonrandomstring 4y ago
> How would the appeal of streamers and live data/content settle out in that case? It would be mostly unaffected. As another commenter (Michael) says, communication, news and collaboration are distinct from storage as needs/functions. What you say here is fascinating: > Since transient, ethereal meme culture is also basically emergent culture now, it's difficult not to also foresee a greater cultural divide in such a case. There have always been bookish or gossipy people. Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy both make note of that in stories about English culture. The balance of those qualities may have changed in the internet age. Perhaps the degree of reach via one-to-many communications has amplified the ephemeral gossip side. The scholarly life less so. Though it's enhanced by repositories like Gutenberg, Internet Archive and SciHub and the like, a "reader" (to use Bill Hicks's take) can still only process one media at a time. But as Ted Nelson pointed out, if you have all of the worlds writing at your fingertips, all hyperlinked and with awesome semantic search tools, reading becomes a quite different non-linear experience. That's something centralised walled gardens subtracted from the WWW as its 1990s conceit. That 90's vision of a multi-modal, multi-media "internet community" in which people read common news, converse and reference together hasn't really survived "Social Media". But then it was always a weal approximation to something like a group seminar in the university library rather than the town square or local pub.

michaelmrose 4y ago

If I could store all the worlds present information on the head of a pin I should still want to access the internet to find out how you feel about it or share my opinion on it with you. Virtually everything we do online isn't reading existing data its taking action on it by virtue of communication.