tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1684385548308203640.post4654754458027444802..comments2011-01-09T08:24:08.243-08:00Comments on PARADISE LESAGE: editor's letterAvatarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13864389335637829951noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1684385548308203640.post-54422413091484604692009-02-06T09:54:00.000-08:002009-02-06T09:54:00.000-08:00What is intelligent furniture?What does it do that...What is intelligent furniture?<BR/>What does it do that makes it substantially more useful than regular furniture?<BR/><BR/>I think the common pitfall of most futurology is that it thinks of technological progress as being a force independent of consumer demand - whether you predict dystopia or Utopia it's a common failing not to answer the question; why would people buy that? <BR/><BR/>I assume you've read Bruce Stirling's Viridian Green manifesto - I remember when I first read it thinking "this guy gets it!" <BR/>It seems such a brilliant and effective idea that the Green movement can be consumer lead and save a lot of time that would have had to be wasted fighting for some kind of alternative control of industry.David Kameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08055283614338886809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1684385548308203640.post-58369059718812125962009-02-05T20:07:00.000-08:002009-02-05T20:07:00.000-08:00Hello David,I just finished "Tomorrow, Now" by Bru...Hello David,<BR/>I just finished "Tomorrow, Now" by Bruce Sterling and really enjoyed it- Sterling discusses things that could become 'normal life' to us in 50 years. some abstractions: BACTERIA, TASTY KNICK-KNACKS, INTELLIGENT FURNITURE, etc.Avatarishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13864389335637829951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1684385548308203640.post-84175894539605426462009-02-04T12:08:00.000-08:002009-02-04T12:08:00.000-08:00Did you ever get the feeling you were born sooner ...Did you ever get the feeling you were born sooner than you'd like?<BR/>When I was a kid I used to wish I'd been born 50 or 100 years from now - because according to most science fiction narratives by then we will have all kinds of cool stuff like interstellar travel and technological solutions for environmental problems and direct mind/computer interfaces. The problem is that in all these stories the first half of this century is always taken up with pollution and famine and nuclear war :-(David Kameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08055283614338886809noreply@blogger.com