Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 27, 1994 TAG: 9409280003
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Brian Kelley
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The thought flashed through my mind at a luncheon at Virginia Tech this month, while Rep. Rick Boucher described one aspect of the brave new world to come, courtesy of the on-going evolution of telecommunications.
First, some explanation. "Luddite" was a derogatory term applied to the textile workers in early 19th century England who attacked innovative machinery because they feared for their jobs.
The writer and farmer Wendell Berry revived the term, and added "neo," in a thought-provoking essay a few years ago to describe ways to reduce one's reliance on high technology. He saluted, instead of scorned, the idea of being a neo-Luddite. This means using typewriters instead of computers, relying on a plow team rather than a tractor to farm and reading a book rather than watching television.
I found much in the essay hard to swallow; our lives are so enmeshed in technology that it seems hypocritical, not to mention petulant, to bite the hand that, literally, feeds us. But I also believe there's a time and a place to simplify life and get away from its high-tech trappings. That's why I like heading out to the woods now and then for a walk, or for some work on a trail (usually, but not always, using low-tech tools).
Which brings us back to Tech, where the Abingdon Democrat was describing how a rewrite of federal communications law - which stalled in the Senate on Friday for the rest of the year, by the way - would affect Western Virginia. Boucher explained how telecommunications is expected to move far beyond the segregated mediums of today. Because of competition and innovations, Boucher said, the hard-wired telephone service, cellular phones, traditional television and cable TV of today will be integrated into a whole in the future.
Motorola is already at work on a network of 66 low-orbit satellites to provide wireless telephone service anywhere in the world.
"So you could stand on the top of Mount Rogers and talk to your house in Blacksburg and you would do so by the use of a satellite," Boucher said.
That got my attention.
The Mount Rogers National Recreation Area is a gem in Southwest Virginia's crown, right up there with Burkes Garden and other natural beauties. What makes it so is its relative isolation; it's a place where you can leave the modern world behind, at least for a few hours.
But that wasn't all. Within a decade, once Motorola's network is as common as cellular phones are today, the next step will be the move toward "multimedia services." That's the ability to send and receive voice, data and television images anywhere. Microsoft Corp.'s Bill Gates envisions 840 low-earth satellites to do just that, Boucher said.
"So you could take your Walkman television set to the top of Mount Rogers and presumably purchase [access to] a video file server and a satellite network [to] look at any television station anywhere in the country," he said.
Which begs the question, why would you want to?
Sure, Boucher was just using Mount Rogers as a locally relevant example of how technology will overcome geographic isolation.
Sure, such gadgets, combined with the new Global Positioning Systems, which tell you precisely where in the world you are, would be invaluable for search-and-rescue operations, law enforcement and firefighting in rugged terrain.
But count me out. I'm about as interested in bringing a television or telephone to the woods as I am in riding an ornery mule the 10 miles to work and back every day. I suspect I'm not alone.
One bit of high-tech I don't mind, however, is the computer spell-checker, as Friday's New River Valley Spelling Bee thoroughly indicated. Staffers Rick Lindquist, John Hudson and I flew the colors for the Roanoke Times & World-News in the event designed to raise money for local literacy efforts.
OK, if you must know, "thalassic" - "of or having to do with the ocean" - was the cause of our first-round downfall. The team from Anderson & Associates - Wayne Wilcox, Beckie Swartz and Bill Janzen - won later by correctly spelling "brougham," a light, closed carriage with seats for two or four. So congratulations to them for winning and to the Rotary Club of Montgomery County for raising nearly $4,000.
Come to think of it, why a spell-checker, when a dogeared dictionary would do just fine ...
by CNB