Member-only story
What Comes After Streaming? Brainflix?
It’s a Wednesday evening, Abdul has had a busy day. Endless meetings, dashing about the city. A steady rain has been washing the streets and sidewalks all day. Time for a little Brainflix and chill with his wife. A quick bite to eat and they settle on the large, comfy couch in their suburban home. The kids are in bed. They both grab the soft NetCap off the coffee table, placing them on their heads. Time for a show!
There was, a few years ago, a time when there was this trend around people getting implants in their skulls. But it was pricey and there were issues with secondary infections. It wasn’t pretty. One company was hit with so many lawsuits they had to shutdown. And it just never quite took. No one really wanted something drilled into their skull it seems.
Then along came the NetCap and the CogniSpark. Nice, soft, lightweight and it rested gently on your head, or you could get the wrap around that rested over your ears with ear buds and it didn’t mess with your hair. People also liked that there were no issues with eye strain and you didn’t have goggles over your face. You could also switch to Augmented Reality (AR) mode so you could wander around with your eyes open. The caps connected to your WiFi connection and voila! Close your eyes and stream Brainflix or all those other streaming channels.
If you’d spun your way back in time about 5,000 years ago and spoke Egyptian, and you asked a scribe what came after papyrus you’d probably get a funny look and hauled up in front of the magistrate for being a nutbar. What else could there ever be than papyrus?
When books came along, society’s elite and religious leaders feared the spread of ideas and a smarter population. Yet when newspapers came along we’d all get dumber. When telephones came along, some thought we’d all be talking to ghosts and spirits.
When we are unaware of technologies, we fear them. Especially those we see as changing the way we perceive and understand the world. Even more so, technologies that help us tell stories faster, more vividly, that come closer to our imaginations. Like the book, the telephone, the television, VHS tape, DVDs and well, streaming boxes, phones and tablets, laptops.
