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So, one of the textbooks we have is this collection of essays called "composing cyberspace." Now, I'm not far enough into the book to really be able to judge, but so far, every essay in Ch. 1 is nothing but ranting about how computers are going to own our souls. That the book was compiled back in 96 or sommat is amusing, too, as I have to giggle every time one of them tries to explain things like MUDs or aliases.
Now, yours truly has been online in some form or other since 1993, so this new fangled in-tar-net thingy is pretty old hat for me at this point. Computers have never scared me. I was too old to have had computers in my schools (they appeared the year after I left) but my parents bought me a Vic 20 for Christmas one year and I happily spent hours writing dumbass graphics in Basic. (And one rather nice little astrology program, too.) Granted that thinking in code has never been one of my strong suits, but the machinery itself never intimidated me. Few machines ever have, unless they're intended to kill people. But I think they do scare a lot of people, particularly the people writing some of these essays. They place value judgements on machines, as if machines have motivation, and that motivation is to steal their souls while they're asleep. These are the people who truly believe The Matrix is a reasonable threat for the near future, and who stockpiled bottled water in 1999.
( silly Luddite. machines are for humans. )
Now, yours truly has been online in some form or other since 1993, so this new fangled in-tar-net thingy is pretty old hat for me at this point. Computers have never scared me. I was too old to have had computers in my schools (they appeared the year after I left) but my parents bought me a Vic 20 for Christmas one year and I happily spent hours writing dumbass graphics in Basic. (And one rather nice little astrology program, too.) Granted that thinking in code has never been one of my strong suits, but the machinery itself never intimidated me. Few machines ever have, unless they're intended to kill people. But I think they do scare a lot of people, particularly the people writing some of these essays. They place value judgements on machines, as if machines have motivation, and that motivation is to steal their souls while they're asleep. These are the people who truly believe The Matrix is a reasonable threat for the near future, and who stockpiled bottled water in 1999.
( silly Luddite. machines are for humans. )
