Prologue
On Inle Lake…
The long boat was narrow, and it moved fast.
There was a large single-cylinder diesel engine at the back, and a man I had not yet met was steering it. On a seat...
Part Two — Licklider’s Dream
Members and Affiliates of the Intergalactic Computer Network
— J. C. R. Licklider, memorandum, 23 April 1963
Chapter Five: Rise of the Machines
In a few years, men will be able to communicate...
Elsewhere
In Search of Lost Attention
Part One — The View from Out Here
At that moment I seem somehow to understand the extraordinary saying that there shall be no more time.
— Prince Myshkin, in Fyodor Dostoevsky,...
Holding Still: Julie Battisti, 2026.
We live in a culture that competes relentlessly for our attention. Algorithms anticipate what might keep us scrolling, feeds refresh without end, and the boundaries between one stimulus and the...
