Out with the old and in with the new. It seems that the concept of the newest idea, the latest information will become obsolete. “Because of electric speed, we can no longer wait and see... As soon as information is acquired, it is very rapidly replaced by still newer information.” (McLuhan, p.63) We barely have time to register the information before the newer information arrives. It is what we expect and demand in this ‘information age.’ So we may soon stop registering it altogether.“Will the ‘new’ have any meaning in a world that is updated by the microsecond every time there is fresh activity in the system? Where smart objects know what we want before we have even thought of it ourselves?” (Sue Thomas, end of cyberspace, p.390) Our machine will customise the news bulletins to suit what stories we have previously viewed. They will sort through the imaginary piles of stories available on the web and proudly deliver (as much as a machine can) the pick of the crop into our inboxes for us to flick through and forget and the next wave arrives.
Amazon has a similar service where it suggests items you might be interested in, based on your last selection. It is services like these on the machine that make us realise its autonomous potential. It makes us consider the apparatus in a more active role rather than purely that of 'the tool'.
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