Huh?

Post by **ccb056** » April 4th, 2004, 4:32 am

Meet Chu, from the future

Thank you for inviting me to speak with your gathering.
My name is Chu, I'm 16 years old, and I was just awarded the Sing
Low Prize for Creative Thinking in Mathematics. I learned just
before I came here that my Sr. High School thesis was downloaded
by over 200,000 sites, representing 37 different countries. I've
gotten feedback from over 120 people, 17 of them rather famous
mathemeticians and scientists!

I talked with a couple of my elders before coming here, so I hope
I say things you'll understand and find interesting.

My grandmother told me it used to be different in the old days,
but the NetChit I received from the downloads of my paper, combined
with the Sing Low prize money, will allow me to attend college for
another two years. There's a local extension on the west end of my
town that connects me with the rest of my class. The extension's
computers have multiple big desk and wall screens that enable us
to work cooperatively on our assignments and interesting problems.
I just plug in my WalkAbout, all the authorship and authenticity
is taken care of, and I'm in.

Of course, I'm always online through my WalkAbout, but its operating
system and functionality are more geared toward my lifestyle. I
have a lot of friends--some of them don't like math as much as I
do. But we all keep in touch a lot.

My great-grandfather told me stories about his parents and how they
used to wear their clothes and shoes with big Nike and Disney names
on them. I can't believe that anyone used to be so attached to
those big companies of the past. During my great-grandfather's
days, he watched what they used to call "brands" slowly become less
popular until at one point he said some companies were almost giving
their stuff away! We have seen many examples in the last several
decades of how so many big companies struggled and failed to adapt
to the new ways. These days, when people want to take on a new
persona, they might start out with a Def--a default persona that
my great-grandfather says was kinda like a brand name that could
be customized.

A couple other things you may be interested in. My grandmother told
me you used to have things like digital watermarks and trademarks
and such. I never quite understood these things or why anyone would
do that. These days, a document's content is keyed to authorship
and authentication factors. The nature of the content is important,
sure, but it's also weighed against bodies of work by those and
other authors. When some information is treated as a fact, its
origins and context can be traced. Anonymous documents are represented
by one or more Surety bodies.

Also, we have a truly global flow of information. The PublicNet is
a vast, interconnected bit-pipe with no switches and no editorial
controls to slow things down. The artists and other content creators
connect directly to interested people. Our terminals, like my
WalkAbout, have transaction, crypt, translating, summary, and other
editorial preferences set by each user.

I understand you are all meeting to explore these and related
concepts in the next couple of days. You can rest assured that
meetings like this are happening all over the world, in a furious
fashion, and that you have some big battles yet to come. I wish
you well in your work--your future is my present and if all goes
well, it's a compelling one.

Thank you again for inviting me.

by Judi Clark
15 September 1998

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