A bit of amateur futurology for the night. Recently, Arkady Moreynis was curious about the opinions of friends on what will replace books. He thinks books are slow media.
I believe that firstly, people will find a more information-dense language, both written and spoken, and all progressives will switch to it. A separation into a progressive minority and the rest, I think, is inevitable. Some future person might just need about 10 minutes with an “educational device” instead of a 500-page book.
Secondly, I think people will find a way to replace supercomputers with human brains trained from childhood to solve problems. Together with a supercomputer, it will be a powerful force. Likely, to cultivate the required profile of knowledge and skills, a helmet equipped with glasses will be worn on a child’s head, containing special software in which children spend their entire childhood. The glasses feed information into the brain, while the helmet collects feedback. Essentially, they are programmed for the rest of their lives, making maximum use of the time when the brain is malleable. It will be sad if this kills childhood, but I believe it is an inevitable fruit of progress.
Thirdly, I think that to deliver information from A to B, they will seek different communication channels and even use them simultaneously. For example, information in the form of “white noise” may penetrate through the eyes, carrying specific meanings to the people of the future. Introducing sensory channels as additional means could enrich the alternatives for information delivery.
