[PREV - ESSAY_ON_THE_UNDERGROUND]    [TOP]

NOTHING_IS_PURE

   
From some material posted to 
alt.cyberpunk 07/17/1989: 
                                        
In the context of a discussion about    
whether it makes sense for Gibson's     
cyberspace decks to have keyboards,     
I said:                                 
                                        
   "I notice that despite menus and mice                   
   Macintoshes also have control codes."                   
                                     
                           
The point is that while it's      
easy to develop a vision of       
the future as the embodiment       
of a single concept, the real      Cars displaced horses to
world frequently turns out to      a large extent, and yet 
be messier than that.              we have mounted police  
                                   patrolling in Central   
                                   Park.  Further, bicycles
    I find it easier               are still useful and    
    to believe that                everybody walks now and 
    the future will                then.                   
    be mixture of                               
    visions, some of                            
    them apparently         In prospect, the choices get 
    contradictory.          romanticized to extremes.    
                            
                            In retrospect what you get is         
                            always some weird mixture.         
                                                               
        Nothing is                                 Must it be 
        ever pure.                                 "utopia or oblivion"?
                                                   How about both 
                                                   and neither and 
                                                   inbetween? 

--------
[NEXT - TIME_MIND]