Can one have too much technology?

I didn't stage this picture, honest.

I don't know if you can see it, but there's (counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) ... okay, there's a desktop computer, 2 laptops (one masquerading as a desktop), a handheld, 2 e-readers, and 2 PDAs in this picture. I was multi-tasking: uploading info from one device to another, logging in to check email, downloading from one computer to the other.

This isn't all the computers in my house. There's 3 downstairs, there's one out for repair and there's one lurking in the charging bay. Then there's the digital camera, the Ipod, the Rio, and the memory sticks.

Isn't it amazing how technology has changed in the last ten years? I got my first PC in 1984. An Apple //C. It's was about the size of that NEC MobilePro800 in the picture there. That was 22 years ago -- only 22 years and look at the changes technology has wrought.

The really amazing thing to me is that I use almost all of these devices for (1) communication and (2) writing. I have few games, fewer pictures, no media stuff. I occasionally download a book-on-Rio or some music, but generally speaking these are glorified typewriters and mailers. I haven't made that Big Leap into truly high tech where it's truly a part of my life.

Where will we be 20 years from now?

You heard it here first: CHI (Computer Human Interface). I'm waiting for the day I can download my brain into a machine and vice versa.

Now that will be interesting.