Daily Meditations for the Computer-entranced

Steve Talbott

These are some of my early (1996 and before) essays on the Internet society. I would doubtless write many of them rather differently if I were writing today.

• Sleepwalking with Our Computers
  • The Machine's Threat Lies in Our Absence
• The Machine's Hidden Agenda
  • Technology Gains Its Powers from the Human Heart
• The Principle of Technological Deceit
  • Identifying the Fundamental Error of the Digital Age
• The Internet As Terminator
  • There is No Technological Fix for Prejudice
• Speeding toward Meaninglessness
  • Why Time-saving Devices Don't Save Time
• The Illusion of Online Efficiency
  • There is Only One Exit from the Technological Arms Race
• Reengineering Society for Efficiency
  • It is Possible; But Do We Want It?
• The Virtual Kingdom is within You
  • Autumn Leaves, the Simpson Trial, and the Internet
• The Future of Freedom
  • Technological Determinism Is an Ambiguous Affair
• The Internet As Anti-culture
  • A Little Corrosion is a Dangerous thing
• Do Computers Benefit Education?
  • A New Paradigm Needs More Than Glamor
• Liberation and Oppression on the Net
  • Who is the Big, Bad Wolf?
• Committing Ourselves to Tinkerers
  • When Emptiness Rules
• Every Tool Is an Obstacle
  • Computer Critics Need Not Worship Books
• Will Advertising Keep the Net Free?
  • Our Continuing Experiment in Social Destruction