“A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding.” MindHumansLightLinesCitiesComputerChaosDataComplexityRepresentationGraphicConstellationsUnthinkableCyberspaceClustersCyberpunkCity Lights Author:William Gibson
“Centralization of society's vital services in giant computer centers, reservoirs, nuclear power plants, air- traffic control centers, 100-story skyscrapers, and government compounds increases its vulnerability. ... choosing his targets, today's saboteur could pollute a city's water supply, dynamite power transmission towers, cripple an airport control center, destroy a corporate or government computer center.” StoriesGovernmentTodayWaterCitiesAirComputerIncreasePlantNuclearCorporateVulnerabilityGiantsTargetTowersTrafficAirportsCompoundsTransmissionNuclear PowerReservoirsCripplesDynamiteSkyscraperPower PlantsCentralizationSaboteursAir Traffic ControlTraffic Control Author:Anatol Rapoport
“London always reminds me of a brain. It is similarly convoluted and circuitous. A lot of cities, especially American ones like New York and Chicago, are laid out in straight lines. Like the circuits on computer chips, there are a lot of right angles in cities like this. But London is a glorious mess. It evolved from a score or so of distinct villages, that merged and meshed as their boundaries enlarged. As a result, London is a labyrinth, full of turnings and twistings just like a brain.” LinesResultsCitiesBrainNew YorkComputerLondonBoundariesMessGloriousScoreVillageChicagoAngleChipsLabyrinthCircuitsStraight LinesConvoluted Author:James Geary
“Today's children are living a childhood of firsts. They are the first daycare generation; the first truly multicultural generation; the first generation to grow up in the electronic bubble, the environment defined by computers and new forms of television; the first post-sexual revolution generation; the first generation for which nature is more abstraction than reality; the first generation to grow up in new kinds of dispersed, deconcentrated cities, not quite urban, rural, or suburban.” FirstsKindChildrenRealityTodayFormGrowsChangeCitiesGrowing UpEnvironmentGenerationsChildhoodTelevisionRevolutionComputerDefinedPostsBubblesUrbanAbstractionMulticulturalSexual RevolutionDaycare Book:Childhood's Future Source: Childhood's Future
“The only time I've ever been mistaken for someone else is - and this arguable still - when a person came up to me on the boardwalk of Ocean City, New Jersey and said, "You look a lot like that guy from computer ads" and I said, "There is a reason because I am that guy," and the guy looked at me for a minute, laughed and said, "That's a funny joke, but you really do look like him." He thought I was not me.” LooksPersonsSaidStillsReasonGuyCitiesMinutesOceanComputerJokesLaughedAdsMistakenOnly TimeJerseyThat GuyNew JerseyFunny JokesBoardwalks Author:John Hodgman
“The fact that the infrastructure is falling apart is not necessarily because it's built poorly. The New York City subways were built in 1903. The fact that they're still running at all is an enormous success. The fact that New York City's bridges have held up as long as they have is extraordinary, and the engineers didn't have computers to tell them about tolerance. They overbuilt these things - traffic on them is like an ant on an elephant.” LongStillsFactsRunningFallCitiesNew YorkComputerBuiltExtraordinaryToleranceEnormousBridgesNew York CityEngineersTrafficElephantsFalling ApartInfrastructureAntsSubway Author:Alan Weisman
“I noticed whenever you call information, 411, there's always a computer voice, and they go, 'What number would you like? City and state, please.' 'Yeah, I'd like the number of Macy's in Century City, California.' 'Did you say 'pretzel nuggets'?” StatesVoiceNumbersCitiesCenturyInformationPleaseComputerYeahCaliforniaNuggetsPretzelsMacy's Author:Andy Kindler
“I do not live happily or comfortably With the cleverness of our times. The talk is all about computers, The news is all about bombs and blood. This morning, in the fresh field, I came upon a hidden nest. It held four warm, speckled eggs. I touched them. Then went away softly, Having felt something more wonderful Than all the electricity of New York City.” FeltCitiesMorningFourWonderfulBloodNew YorkFieldsComputerNewsWarmOur TimeBombsTouchedEggsNew York CityElectricityNestsCleverness Book:Evidence: Poems Source: Evidence: Poems