The new reading underground

This generation doesn't read books. you hear it all the time. and its a load. Or at least a misload . Because this generation reads. A load. Just not of books.

I think all of that will be changing soon. What we're not at all prepared for is what a book will be in the very near future. Oh, I imagine microsoft and apple think they're prepared for it. But I'm talking about the authors and the publishers. And to a large extent, the rest of us.

Because the so-called book, biblio, reading object is going to grow anew out of this neural network we call the internet. It will be completely different, and will probably mirror our perception of reality closer than a string of paragraphs and chapters.

However, we have to be careful here. Mankind has certainly had the opportunity to add illustrations to books since the beginning of writing, and many times did. But there is something about the 'story' that pushed media other than the words into the margins.

Most likely it is because reading/word processing is an abstract activity that until now we have been accustomed to doing in isolation. But 50 years of computing have begun to change that. With a two and a half generations raised on visual media, we have adults living now who are ready to rewrite the book, so to speak, on books.

My guess is that we will see hybrids similar to illustrated books, and comics and things in between. But somewhere along the line, the mass market will ferret out humankind's new preference for narrative content. The experimentation taking place now has been going on for some time. I think we're beginning to tire of reality clips and mindless humor-attempting confabulations across different sources.

What I haven't seen yet, except in a recent re-enactment of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" on Twitter, is real time drama (think live broadcast internet plays), perhaps because no one has thought of it before (I doubt that.)

We shall see.

Three Upcoming Memes

First of all, wiki(s). We'll see a slight upsurge in wikis as people figure out that wiki(s) can do something regular file management can't do: tag.

But then they'll flounder, as people realize that wiki(s) aren't any better than classic tree directories.

Replacing these will be shiftable hierarchies, with the most important five or so items/folders/projects taking the main space and shifting as the need arises, eventually going back down into the pile. Software that exploits this will be developed. Apples i-line of products will accelerate this.

Another meme I think you're going to see surface and hang around for a long time I like to call "Questions we forgot to ask." Here's one for the dating-relationship set: What do birth control pills do to libido?

Here's another one for the family health arena: Have studies on vaccinations and the recent increase in autism explored the possibility that fatal childhood diseases are filters for people genetically predisposed to autism? It's a logical question that begs to be asked, even as we see other illnesses on the rise such as allergies, attention deficit syndrome, and any other malady you want to blame vaccinations on, but in reverse.

And to round this set of memes up to three, there is this one: the singularity has already happened. Move over, Ray.

Me Too, Me Neither -I PAD notes

As you know, I tend to be non-conformist. It's not intentional, just more interesting. But, golly, I'm fascinated by the phenomenon of the Ipad. I don't own one, but do have a slate, and I love it.
So when I see a slate that potentially could be as big as the ipod and iphone (don't own either-non-conformist),the insights it spawns in others just amazes me.

One easy way to look at it is this: Apple has simply created another device, like the Wii. Something new and different. Not a replacement for anything, another product.

Like all new products, it has the potential to push out other products. Has Apple pushed out Pc's? Or Blackberries? Hardly.

Now we get to the really interesting part. Apple has, in the past, pushed ON other products. In other words, because of Apple, other gadget makers, including those of Pc's, are going to be making their products better: easier to use, more innovative, cheaper.

How, is wait and see. And that's what's confusing the gadget pundits. You can't predict the market, because the driver, the economic raison d'être is the user, hundreds of millions of them. We're in for a ride on this one .