You know, I keep hearing how reality is obsolete.

[Leopolds Ghost]

Last edited Mon Oct 7, 2013, 03:25 PM - Edit history (1)

According to people I run into:

• Newspapers are obsolete becasue twenty-somethings won't read them anymore. Much easier to get the news in short-form off a tablet.

• Books are obsolete because now we can download everything from Jeff Bezos and even give him our library card.

• Small businesses are obsolete because now we can buy everything from Jeff Bezos. (and Wal-Mart)

• Desktop computers are obsolete because now we can put everything on Google Cloud and have all media come to us thru our portable television screen via a universal set-top box.

• Phones are obsolete because Facebook and Google Phone allow us to screen all communications so we never have to hear from people we don't want to talk to.

• Meeting people in person is obsolete because Facebook allows us to manage our time so we don't have to waste time with people we aren't dating, including co-workers.

• Protests are obsolete because nobody will listen to your concerns, so get back on the Internet.

[enlightenment]

1. I find myself

humming "In the Year 2525" quite a bit these days . . .

[Leopolds Ghost]

2. I like that song. Maybe because I grew up reading and listening to 70's-80's sci-fi paranoia

It's impossible to be paranoid anymore because it all came true.

Brave New World and all that.

[font color="green"]Including the part about people, on average, not giving a shit.[/font]

[Leopolds Ghost]

3. I should have mentioned... e-mail and blogs like this are obsolete.

• Because twitter and other services allow us to express our thoughts in 140 characters or less, avoiding having to get roped into extended conversations with people we don't know, about stuff we know nothing about.

[wandy]

4. Well, one out of six ain't bad............

Newspapers are obsolete because they dont gots no little button I can click to make the type bigger so I'd have to go find my reading glasses, clean about a weeks worth of finger prints off of them and loose them for another couple of hours first time I got up for coffee.
Desktop computers are NOT obsolete because a tablet with a 27 inch viewing area would be darned silly.

[Leopolds Ghost]

5. I was talking to a friend who used to work at an out-of-print newspaper

He says that he himself stopped reading the Post, because:

• They kept piling up around the house (I'm okay with this)

• The Post has become a right-wing rag that nobody agrees with despite their good journalistic standards -- sort of like the WSJ

• Personal financial considerations. Well, no wonder it went out of print since they couldn't pay people

[Enthusiast]

6. We are not giving up our books.

We love love love our books.

[Leopolds Ghost]

7. I didn't realize until I actually purchased and DLed an e-book how dissatisfying the experience was.

I had to compile a DRM stripper simply to be allowed to highlight passages from the text -- much less retain a copy on my hard drive without being forced to connect to the internet in order to read the thing.

I also found out that Amazon's "favorite passages" section is based on automatically reading users' Kindle highlights.

Did you know that users' book-buying habits is among the things Supreme Court ruled it's OK for the government to monitor?

And I simply cannot stand being forced to gaze at a static screen in order to read a book. But most people dislike long-form writing now because it's not suited to the electronic medium!! Sort of like when people use poorly designed laptops with cramped trackpads and tablets that require you to fingerpaint your way around websites, and then complain about carpal tunnel. Also the lack of paper is appalling.

What happened to the Democrats who wanted to reverse the William Randolph Hearst thing and legalize hemp paper manufacturing? Instead it's "dead trees this, dead trees that." It's almost like people have extreme attention deficit disorder, they will no longer read anything unless they can get it on Facebook.

[DonCoquixote]

8. It depends on what you get

Barnes and Noble tends to make better downloadables, but then again, they translate their printing experience into the e books, they pay attention to font, spacing, etc.

[Leopolds Ghost]

9. What!?!?

An even-handed opinion? On MY DU!?



What daring! What outrageousness! What insolence! What arrogance! What audacity!

I salute you.

[DonCoquixote]

11. Ok....

I guess I can take a compliment

[Fumesucker]

10. TL;DR

[Leopolds Ghost]

12. ~_~