I lived in Kerala for six months and have a lifelong obsession with it (particularly the wonderfully unique music). I agree it is one of the world's most magical places (it also has the only palindromic language - Malayalam).
But it has long been one of India's poorest states - it is remarkable that the literacy is so high, and education is so good.
It is a perfect testing ground for the Simputer, as Malayalis are so adventurous and keen to embrace new things.
The story fails to consider the (likely) possibility that our technology for reading old formats will vastly improve in the future, as it has over the last century.
What won't we be able to read if we have nanotechnology? You'll be able to throw a wax cylinder, a vinyl record, audiotape, hard disk into the machine's receptacle, tell it to detect the medium from its huge database of format standards and decryptions, and away you go.
What's more, the fidelity will be better than it was originally.
The loss of passwords through DBAs dying is a bit of a worry though.
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It's rare that good music is in the form of "songs", except in the case of Schubert.
Careful please.
Not much of a lefty are you.
In Kerala's case, literacy does mean reading. The sale of books in Kerala is the highest in India (a very bookish nation).
But it has long been one of India's poorest states - it is remarkable that the literacy is so high, and education is so good.
It is a perfect testing ground for the Simputer, as Malayalis are so adventurous and keen to embrace new things.
Yes, I grant Clarke, Dawkins and Herbie are good choices.
What won't we be able to read if we have nanotechnology? You'll be able to throw a wax cylinder, a vinyl record, audiotape, hard disk into the machine's receptacle, tell it to detect the medium from its huge database of format standards and decryptions, and away you go.
What's more, the fidelity will be better than it was originally.
The loss of passwords through DBAs dying is a bit of a worry though.