Where the Telematic embrace will get interesting is as the smart environments truly come into practical play with wireless flatpanel screens and microphones and speakers, then haptic sensors, even servo-motors dotting our homes. A "digital furnace" in the closet will coordinate the speech recognition. and send out ibots and act as an extension of our memory, desires, and values.

The tough challenge ahead is for the information machine to become a knowledge machine and acquire a useful level of semiotic understanding. That will require multiple agents. To get efficiency out of them (initially and probably for some time) we will need to limit them to a domain of activity. My financial agent will be able to do a good job of handling speech and meaning within the domain of finance, another might appreciate my music tastes, etc., etc. ).

Where does the artist fit into this world of personal noosphere swirling with Ariels and Calibans?

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– Kevin Teixeira