If I'm sitting at my system and new mail arrives, I can gesture at the mailbox icon, and the system will show me the new message. If I get up from my chair, the camera notes that I'm not there, and a voice alert tells me that another message has arrived. The system listens, watches, and adapts. This is not science fiction. This is possible today.
Someone just needs to write the code.
Jamais Cascio is a consultant and writer specializing in scenarios of how we may live over the next century. His clients have included mainstream corporations, film and television producers. He has written for many publications, including Wired and TIME, and is currently working on a screenplay. He is an active member of the oldest and most influential online community, The Well, and believes that new technologies are pushing people into new social, economic and political realms. Join the PCReview mailing list and receive our top stories and regular features once a week, by email.