When your technological ghosts come back to haunt you, expect humbug

On a Christmas Eve when nothing felt right, I lapsed into a deep yet disturbed sleep. I awoke to perceive a diffuse glow. Was it a smartphone notification? I opened my eyes. Three spectral presences crowded around the sides of my bed. One – a middle-aged woman – cradled a NeXT Cube under her arm. Another – an obese man with …

[Pascal Monett]

Interesting take on Scrooge

I liked it.

The ending is, of course, pure fantasy. There will be no liberation. We will end up borged into the Web with mind-links, information being scrolled right on our retinas.

[Michael H.F. Wilkinson]

Very good piece

Very nicely written.

This made me reflect on exactly why I go stargazing, bird watching, walking and cycling in nature, and most of all why I love to dance, holding a fellow human being close, face to face, enjoying the moment, or have a drink in a pub with mates. All this can be done without any bleeding screen getting in the way. We still have that, it hasn't been taken away, it is just the lure of the screen that keeps drawing us back to a virtual life, tempting us with fake fulfillment. It is not all bad, as I have met real people and made new friends online, as long as you know when to tear yourself away from the screen.

[Neil Barnes]

Re: Very good piece

I find that real life is a very nice place to be.

Helping someone with their first few paraglider launches is an amazing treat and something that there is no way electronic technology can duplicate... (when ChatGPT came out, I asked it how to launch a paraglider: the instructions would have likely injured me by step three and killed me by step six...)

[KittenHuffer]

Re: Very good piece

You should see the instructions it gave me for skydiving!

1. Leap out of aircraft at 30,000 ft.

2. Pick up your parachute and strap yourself in securely.

3. Have your friends and family waiting for you in the landing field with their cameras running.

4. Enjoy the anticipation of your skydive as the plane climbs into the sky.

[Zoopy]

Re: Very good piece

"Helping someone with their first few paraglider launches is an amazing treat"

Is that you, BOFH?

[Hawkeye Pierce]

+1

Title says it all.

Thank you.

[uv]

Hello darkness, my old friend...

And the people bowed and prayed to the neon^h^h^h^hsmartphone god they made

[User McUser]

It's not too late to share what I've learned!

Ghosts are fucking REAL you guys!

(I don't have anything useful to add but I always thought that clip was pretty damn funny.)

[jake]

Strangely enough ...

... as I read this I realized that I have no idea where my phone is. Haven't seen it in a couple days or a week.

Whatever. I haven't been off-property in that time, so it's here somewhere.

Like a bad penny, I'm sure it'll turn up eventually. It always does.

[Bebu sa Ware]

"Yes this is the 21st century...

but I don't think there will be a 22nd century."

Conversation on the bus today with a companion complaining about the rest of the passengers' having their faces glued to their phones.

I replied that smartphones were the curse of the 21st century.

English not being her first language, she wasn't sure to what time period the 21st century referred.

I explained my sceptical view of their being a 22nd by suggesting they will forget to procreate (or have forgotten how to.)

[Ball boy]

Re: "Yes this is the 21st century...

Oh, I don't think we'll forget how to procreate: from what I hear, a good third of the Internet is dedicated to videos that show exactly how to do that...however, there is a real danger we'll forget how to form deep, meaningful and consensual relationships with other people - because of the influence of exactly the same websites.

[Clunking Fist]

Film this

This is soooo visual and epic. And then the scream, Wow. (Make sure you film in landscape, mind.)