Читать книгу Next: A Vision of Our Lives in the Future - Marian Salzman - Страница 19

‘There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.’ Ken Olson, then chairman of Digital Equipment, in an address to the World Future Society, Boston, 1977

A couple of years ago, Richard Eastman of Billerica, Massachusetts, who managed a genealogy forum on online access provider CompuServe, noticed some odd messages from one of about twenty computer users during a regular weekly gathering of their ‘cybercommunity’. A message from the Reverend Kenneth Walker indicated that he wasn’t feeling terribly well, and the reverend soon began transmitting messages with gross typographical errors. Another member of the cybercommunity, a nurse from Long Island, New York, immediately began asking Reverend Walker for his symptoms. At one point, according to a report from Reuters, Walker wrote, ‘By keyboard it melting … I jest nuut.’ Minutes later, he typed, ‘Helo … have broblemd … thimk I am waying stroke.’ Eastman then started asking him for his phone number. After six attempts, he finally got the number, called a telephone operator, and found himself talking to a police officer in Scotland. The police forced their way into Walker’s home minutes after Eastman called, and took Walker to a hospital.

Walker, who said doctors believe he may have suffered an epileptic attack, called Eastman to thank him. ‘This wasn’t any great heroism,’ Eastman said. ‘The only thing different in this case is that it was online.’ Eastman, who has written a book about genealogy, and Walker, considered an expert on Scottish records and archives, have since found they have many things in common. ‘It’s kind of an interesting thing how two lives 3,000 miles apart get wrapped up,’ Eastman said. ‘Obviously, we share a common interest. There is a kinship, if you will.’

Welcome to the global neighbourhood.