(From Ted.Com Conversations) The sophisticated technologists will likely look at Gibsons perspective from a networkcentric or computer enhanced position. Yet his writing was talking about consistent themes of the human condition. The computer has been with us in one form or another for thousands of years. We find ourselves in a new information revolution, or a knowledge economy, but I’d digress and as when hasn’t that been the case?
I would think the distribution element Gibson was talking about would be a flattening of the computing and cyber ecological systems towards a holistic collective. We have seen industries begin this practice with automated teller machines and increasing self-check-out lines at grocery stores. Consider how automotive vehicles have integrated information technology structures to make vehicles more reliable, less polluting, and barely discernable to the user. The distribution of the technologies is becoming seamless and invisible.
That I think is the key to a Gibson future where technology becomes more evenly distributed. The uniqueness and the “in your face” nature of the technology becomes integrated and the humanness of the technological future re-emerges. We will have less jobs in computing and more jobs in creation where computing technologies are factor. As the technology becomes a persistent layer the emergence of creative tasks and industrial jobs emerge on top of that layer.
