book: The Salmon of Doubt
Perhaps a Nostradamus is an inappropriate term, seeing as though Nostradamus spewed poetry about the future that could be interpreted in a number of ways to try and fit with random events. Douglas Adams was a true web visionary before his time, with an inspiring grasp on where the technology was heading and the ultimate human potential that existed underneath the up-and-coming trends. Surely, if Adams were alive today, he would be asked to speak his mind at as many web conferences as the big brains at Apple and Google. As I read The Salmon of Doubt, I just couldn’t help but be amazed at the ideas on the pages before me and, more importantly, the date they were written (all before the dot-com bust, as Adams passed away in 2001).
I have always appreciated Adams take on technology. In 1979, he brought us machines that produced substances “almost but not quite entirely unlike” tea, smug automatic doors with “happy” personalities, and perpetually miserable robot friends with brains the size of planets. The focus was more on amusement and not making any true statement about the relationship between humans and technology. And yet still, even with all the silliness, some of the most memorable objects within the series can be linked to innovative web phenomenons. The easy one is BabelFish, but I think one could easily argue that the Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy itself (and particularly, the Adams spearheaded web effort later) could be considered an inspiration for the Web 2.0 giant, Wikipedia.
Some other great ideas and predictions from The Salmon of Doubt and Adams’ other writings…
How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet
predicting Twitter and text-message love back in 1999
Our children, however, are doing something completely different. Risto Linturi, research fellow of the Helsinki Telephone Corporation, quoted in Wired magazine, describes the extraordinary behaviour kids in the streets of Helsinki, all carrying cellphones with messaging capabilities. They are not exchanging important business information, they’re just chattering, staying in touch. ‘We are herd animals,’ he says. ‘These kids are connected to their herd – they always know where it’s moving.’
The Little Computer that Could
two thumbing with the best of them
I think, though, that we might finally have arrived at a point at which there is a strong incentive to re-invent the keyboard. Palm-top computers are where all the new action is. Apple and Microsoft and everybody are suddenly beginning to get revved up about Personal Digital Assistants and stuff and, having been using this Psion Series 3a for a few hours now, so am I. It’s terrific technology, and this is just the beginning that crucial moment at which something stops being just an entertaining new toy and starts being something you can seriously use in the bath.
Beyond the Brochure or Build it and We Will Come
appreciating the goodness of web 2.0 savvy e-commerce before there was a word for it
The people who have got this spectacularly right so far is the guys at Amazon. You go to their site because it’s awash with shared information. The more information there is, the more people go there, and the more people go there the more information they generate, and the more books Amazon sell. Of course, they are not afraid of open debate because, unlike BMW, they are not responsible for the product they sell. It will take BMW and British Airways a long time and a big deep breath to realise that they are part of the community they sell to.
technorati tags: douglas adams,salmon of doubt
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