Now we’re able to throw our information around willy-nilly, from one device to another, writing to Google Drive on our work computers, back over to our phones, tossing our Pandora stations from the car to the living room. The device no longer matters; the only important thing is the file. The info. We no longer need to have a physical copy of anything. It lives everywhere: in the cloud, on our computer, our tablet.

The noosphere is real.

It’s just a matter of time before the membrane that separates us from all this data is eliminated, and the place where the data ends and we begin becomes completely blurred. Now, we hold a little slab that tells us what we need to know. We shout out to Siri or Alexa to change the music or dim the lights. But what happens when the barriers are gone? When we don’t need a device to access the web - when it’s part of us, whether through some lightweight, indetectable wearable or something more invasive like an implant? What happens when the noosphere is part of us, and we simply have to think something the right way to access the data? What happens to us when all of this info stops appearing to come from outside and just seems like some easily accessible second brain? Do we evolve into homo cyborg? Do we cease to be human? Or is augmenting our humanity part of some greater scheme that happens to all intelligent life in the universe eventually?

I don’t know the answer, but I know how I feel when I see a roomful of people staring at their phones. What will it be like when each of us is even more isolated, wired into a full-blown, 24-7 augmented reality echo chamber?

I just hope our descendants will be able to cope, and to adapt, and to remain creative, innovative and human.

I don’t really have that much to say all the time. And when I do, I usually write a short story or a novel, or some music of one kind or another. That’s why this whole blogging thing seems a bit much to me. Now we have Facebook and Twitter for quick, offhand observations and posting the occasional YouTube music or video, so the blog thing seems almost redundant. But I’m guessing I can use it to talk about the process of trying to create something, or talk about concepts that I’m struggling with, or that fascinate me, that I haven’t been able to work into a story or a piece of music. Or trying to sell or otherwise promote things that I’ve made.

Well, okay then, here goes:

I’ve written a science fiction book that I’m quite proud of called “Other Music.” It’s been out for a while, and I suppose some people have read it, but I’m still hoping to get some reviews. So if you’ve read it, hop over to Amazon or Goodreads and let me know what you think!