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Aug. 29th, 2009 05:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xenithThe other interesting thing about my last entry was I posted it using my phone (which explains the lack of paragrahs and the "detecting" for location) while, as I said I wasn't in my Facebook update, out at Franklin House, a Georgian-era gentlemen's residence and former boy's school now owned by the National Trust.
What would the former inhabitants of this house have made of a hand-held, pocket-sized device that could be used to speak directly with anyone, anywhere; that could send images and sounds across the world in seconds and could quickly access information on any topic? Even for the last residents, in the 1950s, that is a futuristic SFnal gadget. (Although I'm sure the SFnal version wouldn't have problems getting a signal in a built-up area.) Yet for us it's an easily available common and relatively cheap everyday item.
I'm reminded of the many discussions 9 years ago along the lines of "Here were are in 2000 -- where is my futuristic technology?" Here, obviously.
What would the former inhabitants of this house have made of a hand-held, pocket-sized device that could be used to speak directly with anyone, anywhere; that could send images and sounds across the world in seconds and could quickly access information on any topic? Even for the last residents, in the 1950s, that is a futuristic SFnal gadget. (Although I'm sure the SFnal version wouldn't have problems getting a signal in a built-up area.) Yet for us it's an easily available common and relatively cheap everyday item.
I'm reminded of the many discussions 9 years ago along the lines of "Here were are in 2000 -- where is my futuristic technology?" Here, obviously.
