Re: poly: Rapture of the Future

Tim May writes:
> There is nothing wrong with speculating about the distant future, or
> contemplating the Oneness of the All, or buying Upload Insurance, I
> suppose, but there is the very real danger that "nitrogen narcosis" of a
> sort will take hold and make short-term, money-making, and world-changing
> activities seem just too boring to be taken seriously.

I think it is rather valuable to making money, actually, to see the
direction things are going in long term. That crazy silly "internet"
thing was something that myself and my buddies working with it for
decades could see was going to go somewhere -- even in 1987 or '88 I
was mumbling to friends about stuff that has not yet happened but
which seems inevitable like the destruction of the current media
distribution system and the companies associated with it and their
replacement with something, er, better. There is often money to be
made by being a firm that sees where the future is and tries to get
there first -- see @Home, for example.

I agree, of course, that spending all one's time thinking about the
omega point to the detriment of thinking about how to earn one's keep
today is probably stupid. On the other hand, spending time thinking
strategically rather than tactically about how to get from here to
there is rather useful, and sometimes a moneymaker, especially given
how fast things are now moving.

Perry
Received on Fri Jan 2 14:48:19 1998