{"id":423,"date":"2016-03-30T17:47:58","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T16:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stephaneamiot.wordpress.com\/?p=423"},"modified":"2024-09-30T15:39:54","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T13:39:54","slug":"iot-ai-vr-will-they-kill-books-or-could-they-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stephaneamiot.fr\/index.php\/2016\/03\/30\/iot-ai-vr-will-they-kill-books-or-could-they-help\/","title":{"rendered":"IoT, AI, VR: Will They Kill Books or Could They Help?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Forecasting the death of books seems a sure\u00a0bet these days. Modern life\u00a0is full of\u00a0temptations, easier and funnier\u00a0entertainments\u00a0that lure the most literate away from their library. But let’s change the perspective:\u00a0if technology helped us focus on essentials, would it drive us back to reading?\u00a0<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Downton Abbey Library<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Enjoying a simple book, either on paper or e-Ink paper, is all about attention. Attention makes reading possible, while reading a lot sharpens cognitive abilities like… attention. A virtuous circle, so familiar to heavy readers that some may experience a weakening of other brain skills, such as face recognition. Every virtue has its drawbacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connected screens devours our leisure time<\/strong>, leaving less and less room for real life chats, relationships, physical activity, deep thinking, even daily needs. Texts drop, notifications ring, someone waits somewhere for some urgent answer. How on earth can I keep focused on a long piece of literature, a political essay, a science article, especially if I try to read it on my always connected smartphone or tablet?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right. Switch to plane mode. Leave the device in the corridor, under a pillow, out of reach. But then comes another kind of anxiety, called FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). So you can’t escape, you’re chasing your own tail in a running wheel. You’re trapped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But let’s face it. The vital information you wait for is rarely vital. What you need now is some kind of filter, if not disconnection. Remember what it feels like to go out and forget your smartphone, to spend a week-end in a wirelessless cabin, to run out of battery on a hiking trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So let’s make another bet: the next tech generation will give you what you need, when you need it.<\/strong> Not what you asked for in your account settings. What you really need. Tech gurus announce a brave new world where our senses, our brain skills, our limbs will be assisted, when not replaced, by machines. Well, that’s great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    • Take the so-called Internet of Things<\/strong> (IoT): connected devices all over your home and cars, equipped with sound, color, form, temperature, air motion, electricity, pressure sensors; robots designed to help you in daily chores.\u00a0Do you expect them to ring alarm bells every five minutes or\u00a0to enter the room unannounced,\u00a0just to see if you’re well? No. You want them to be fully operational when you need them, so you can spare time for what you enjoy most. What’s the point of having a personal assistant\u00a0if you feel his breath on your neck 24\/7?Look at\u00a0Lord Grantham in \u00ab\u00a0Downton Abbey\u00a0\u00bb:\u00a0when reading or writing in his… library, he knows Carson will only disturb him for important matters.<\/li>
      <\/ul>

      • Take now\u00a0Artificial Intelligence<\/strong> (AI): what makes it revolutionary is \u00ab\u00a0fake intuition\u00a0\u00bb. It is no more about computing, probability, imitation. It’s supposed to learn about you and \u00ab\u00a0think\u00a0\u00bb\u00a0like your brain would think. So AI devices would fall short of my expectations unless they\u00a0anticipate\u00a0my expectations, deliver information even before I need it,\u00a0dismiss emails I would consider spams, answer routine messages as I should, offer me only good options to choose from. Here again, no time lost, no unnecessary disturbance.<\/li>
        <\/ul>\n
          \n
        • Last but not least, take Virtual Reality<\/strong> (VR). It’s supposed to carry us out to another world without leaving our couch, and that’s why video game addicts can’t wait to wear their helmets and gloves. But\u00a0what it first provides\u00a0is isolation,\u00a0focus, and a space where our own dreams can come true. Isn’t that\u00a0what we\u00a0expect from books? So I wonder what VR (Virtual Reading) will\u00a0look\u00a0like. Three dimensional texts, visual and\u00a0sound\u00a0enhancements, audiobooks with brain wave generated images, a virtual book club with distant friends reading loud to each other? Sorry for being carried away… I sort of drifted along the future.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          So how could books die from technology? Whatever form they take (codex, ebooks, audio or things we can’t yet think of), stories told with words are here to stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          And I bet technology can help us there, if it evolves. Less overwhelming, more immersive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Forecasting the death of books seems a sure\u00a0bet these days. Modern life\u00a0is full of\u00a0temptations, easier and funnier\u00a0entertainments\u00a0that lure the most literate away from their library. But let’s change the perspective:\u00a0if technology helped us focus on essentials, would it drive us back to reading?\u00a0 Enjoying a simple book, either on paper or e-Ink paper, is all about 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