Skip to content

Comment on Why the Smart Reading Device of the Future May Be Paperparent

Comments

That was an excellent essay. It started off speculating about the future of the video cassette. He speculated that they would eventually be mobile with a self-contained power source, and that they would be able to present their images to you without disturbing those around you. Controls would become almost automatic. They would stop when you looked away and resume when you looked back, and you could skip around or repeat sections at will, and play the cassette at your own pace. He finishes:

   You'll have to admit that such a cassette would
   be a perfect futuristic dream: self-contained,
   mobile, non-energy-consuming, perfectly private,
   and largely under the control of the will.

   Ah, but dreams are cheap so let's get practical.
   Can such a cassette possibly exist? To this, my
   answer is Yes, of course. The next question is:
   How many years will we have to wait for such a
   deliriously perfect cassette?

   I have an aster for that, too, and a quite
   definite one. We will have it in minus five
   thousand years--because what I have been
   describing...is a book!
AboutSource Built by g1lg1l

Hackerly is an independent reader for Hacker News, built on the public HN API. Not affiliated with Y Combinator.