genomeboy.com

However smitten I might be with technology, however high I’m prepared to fly the flag of the early adopters, I must admit I do have my blind spots. Exhibit A: the LongPen™.

When Margaret Atwood, brilliant writer and peerless creator of dystopian worlds (including a chilling one wrought by genomics), said she had developed a device that would let authors sign autographs remotely, lots of folks thought it was a joke.

It’s not.

But after watching the propaganda video, it strikes me as the kind of surreal technology that might spring up in one of Atwood’s own novels. Again, I’m hardly a Luddite (what, you thought Genome Boy wouldn’t give up his buggy whip?), but must every face-to-face human interaction now compete with a virtual one? “Yes yes,” they say, “…but you don’t understand: the LongPen™ is green!”

Whatever, I’m sure it is. But is this really about environmentalism? Is that why you talk about the “democratizing” powers of your new device, one that happens to spare you from sharing oxygen with the hoi polloi and exposing yourself to their nasty germs via a handshake or–shudder!–an embrace? Or is it just that, as you say in the video, sometimes you “don’t want to deal with room service?” Yeah, well, I’m told the Four Seasons can be just brutal…

God forbid you should get off your arse, venture out of your gilded garret and go some place to meet the occasional throng of adoring fans on someone else’s nickel.

(hat tip: Rake)