I was brought up on the space program, indoctinated on science fiction, studied hard science and math, and spent a good part of my career as a professional software engineer in Silicon Valley, writing Fortran source code for image processing applications used by remote sensors for environmental analysis. I'm the last person I expected to become a NeoLuddite!

Today, I've never owned a cell phone, have to ask people how to use one when I borrow one, and I need my wife to hook up the video machine on my TV. I have never actually held an Ipod or Blackberry in my hands, and the only video game I've ever played is analogue Pong. The most complex piece of gear I feel completely comfortable with is an HP48 calculator.

I realize it's just a matter of personal preference and psychology, but I think everyone eventually gets to the point where they get tired of degugging their tools first before they can start work and having to learn new skill sets every six months or so. Even at work, where I deal with pretty sophisticated applications software as a user, I seem to spend most of my time solving computer problems, NOT using computers to solve my problems.

I've always fantasized writing a book about a new user interface suddenly taking over, one based on English language voice commands and machine responses and virtual or holographic interfaces. I wonder how many of our current keyboard-pounding, mouse-stroking generation would be able to adapt to a purely verbal and virtual environment. It's not an unreasonable question, think about all those people who were wizards with analog circuitry, thinking constantly and effortlessly in frequency space, who just don't "get" digital electronics.

The trouble is that by the time my satire was finished, the rest of the world would have already experienced it, and adapted to it.