The Dancing Angels of the 1950s
posted on 10 Feb 12
As history marches onward, the days of the black and white television fade away. The years of huddling around the radio waiting for tidbits of news and information witnessed only in the hazy glimmers of old movies. Modern users are information overlords, commanding legions of data wherever they roam. With the tap of a button they unlock their ZipCars and honk its horn at a crowded parking lot. A few swipes across their smartphones and groceries, DVDs, or Christmas presents arrive at their doorsteps. They watch Colombo on their iPads, occasionally typing a few words to research the arcane corners of Peter Falk’s oeuvre. They are connected 24 hours a day, in real time, to video, audio, breaking updates about every part of the globe, and nearly every person in it. This is the glorious present: information at our fingertips, everywhere, about everything. We all decide, we choose, we are denied nothing. We are masters of our informational domains.
Not quite.