In a world so redolent with wonder, how can we allow ourselves to conduct our daily lives with so little insight, such absence of dignity?

David Brin is a technological determinist. He thinks that we understand the trend and we need to hop on it. I don't have any such illusions.

The past is a kind of future that has already happened.

The level of ignorance is declining, and the ability to accumulate data and manipulate it for various ends is increasing.

Cloud computing seems to be following this evolutionary path: A - Internet backbone. B - Information Superhighway. C - The Net. D - The Web. E - The Cloud. F - "Ubiquity" G- ???

It's counterproductive to blither on about "the" future. It's always somebody's future, and we're not who we used to be.

War as Napoleon knew it just not possible any more. However, we're very unlikely to accept or recognize "world peace" even when we get it.