The World Wide Cage

> We yearn to reprogram existence, and with the computer we have the best means yet.

Indeed, we have today the means to build an entirely new world with new rules completely unbound from the physical realm. However, we can't escape the physical (yet), meaning in practice, this disconnectedness is not going to work, a compromise has to be found. (Compromise (concessions on both sides) generally has a negative connotation. I want to underline that a compromise in this case is much more valuable than either extreme.)

> The screen provides a refuge, a mediated world that is more predictable, more tractable, and above all safer than the recalcitrant world of things. We flock to the virtual because the real demands too much of us.

Which is a shame, but I'm not too pessimistic about that particular problem. Instead, I think by retaking control over the electronic part of our life, i.e. taking power away from big corporations, a wise guiding hand can right a lot of what's currently going wrong. I believe the virtual can be a great (intellectual) portal to the physical, but that's not going to happen as long as money-making machines are in power.

That brings me neatly to the author's own conclusion:

> What I want from technology is not a new world. What I want from technology are tools for exploring and enjoying the world that is – the world that comes to us thick with ‘things counter, original, spare, strange’