Partial Attention and the Enclosure Act
Continuous Partial Attention
I tried to express this concept, but didn't really suceed, when I wrote IntelligentAgent. In part I love the feeling of partial attention (registration required). The feeling of knowing a little about everything, watching trends develop everywhere, experimenting with new ... constantly. I've always been a better jack of all trades then I have been an expert, even when I was a little kid I knew I was destined to excel at very little but to do many things "pretty well".
Still, as I get older I have periods of rest which make me come to my senses. Denied of my ability to be connected, suddenly my brain and emotions start working. I feel more at ease, more alert, more interested ... even though I have less stimulous.
Ever since I first started working for Earthlight I remember feeling that "If I can just finish this project, I'll be caught up". Several jobs and ten years later that moment has never arrived. I think this is where much of my desire for a personal information system comes from ... another delusional belief that if I could only process and store all my information more efficently I would have more time to do what I wanted to be doing.
The Commons and the Enclosure Act
Ian Betteridge has seen the WirelessCommonsManifesto and wonders when there is going to be an Enclosure Act?
I hadn't heard of this before though I'd heard about much of the surrounding history. It seems like a reasonable way for the government/corporations to attempt to regulate wireless, don't force the issue by disallowing it (which would of course cause an civic outrage and all the unpleasant lobbying and trouble when citizens actually take the effort to show their opinions), but rather just raise the barrier in some way so that it's more hassle then it's worth for most people to bother, or becomes financially unfeasible for the smaller players.
Actually the fence requirement reminds me of the (recently removed?) laws in France where wireless signal wasn't allowed to cross streets. I should try and dig up a link for that and see if it's true.