The other day, I was talking with some of my fellow librarians, and conversation turned to new technologies and digital information services. As it turns out, some of my fellow librarians are also fellow science fiction fans; naturally, we brought up the SF trope that someday our brains will be wired directly into our computer networks – no more external interfaces, the access and use of digital information will all happen through pure thought!
As is my habit whenever people discuss the concept of direct neural-computer interfaces, I offered my usual words of caution:
“Right, because I really want the blue screen of death IN MY HEAD!”
One of my fellow librarians didn’t get the reference. She’s in her early 20s, and she’s never seen a blue screen of death. She’s never even had a hard drive crash on her. She had no idea what I was talking about.
I should probably update my reference, but somehow, “Because I really want a network crash IN MY HEAD!” lacks the same punch.
John the Librarian 