Ridley Scott hates ebooks!

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

If my spaceship just crashed into a planet hard enough to break my eReader then I'm pretty sure I won't be thinking "Bl@@dy Hell I've still not read that John Grisham book"

Current readers are pretty fragile. Unless the landing is 100% smooth the reader wouldn't survive.

[Freeshadow]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

If my spaceship just crashed into a planet hard enough to break my eReader then I'm pretty sure I won't be thinking "Bl@@dy Hell I've still not read that John Grisham book"

But you might be thinking: "f* the low-power display survival handbook and catalogue of edible flora and fauna are gone. "

[MikeB1972]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

But you might be thinking: "f* the low-power display survival handbook and catalogue of edible flora and fauna are gone. "

Well, yeah - but the point is that I'm not going to have a pBook for each and every planet.

Hey, maybe there will be a single book on edible flora and fauna throughout the known worlds - Co-written by Heston Blumenthal & David Attenborough

[5thWiggle]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

Hey, maybe there will be a single book on edible flora and fauna throughout the known worlds - Co-written by Heston Blumenthal & David Attenborough

Douglas Adams beat them to it

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

Things you can purchase are much easier ways of demonstrating status than things you do. It is still pretty overwhelmingly in favor of objects.

Sure... but today anyone can buy something. And as we approach a world of 3-D printers, eventually reproducing objects within a molecule of the original, the value and status of objects, even art, can be expected to drop precipitously. In that world, what's a better status-indicator than doing things that are too difficult or impossible for others to do?

In the same way that an apartment dweller today displays his ipod and stereo attachment, instead of walls of albums, a person can more practically display a reader than a wall of books.

Of course, one of the aspects of displaying status is that the display itself is almost never practical...

[BeccaPrice]

Put up a large monitor on the wall and have it display your calibre library?

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

Put up a large monitor on the wall and have it display your calibre library?

Read on your TV?

[BeccaPrice]

not what I was thinkiing - just using the calibre display to brag about how many ebooks you have, as a replacement for a wall of shelves.

[QuantumIguana]

The thing is, the people who seek displays of status and those capable of doing things that no one else can aren't necessarily the same people. These days, climbing Mount Everest isn't what it used to be; it's not really a sign of being a great mountaineer. The Sherpas do the work. You can buy some status by climbing Mount Everest, but the easier it gets, the less status it gives. Objects are so much easier to display than actions.

If we had something like Star Trek's replicator, where anyone could have anything they wanted to, it would have economic implications which are difficult to predict accurately. But I think people would still be buying status objects, but what constitutes a status object might well change. There are extremely expensive pens that do not write any better than any other pen. The only advantage they have is that the right sort of people know that you have an expensive pen. Perhaps in a world of replicators, people would get originals as status items, and brag about their item being an original rather than a copy.

[Freeshadow]

Of course, one of the aspects of displaying status

That's the point where I see the difference: The displays purpose. I always perceived and intended displayed books or records to be a passive announcement of tastes and interests. Showing off the hardware doesn't help to achieve said goal.

Interestingly the issue only my POV: in "Komarr" LMB uses AFAIR a "small library shelf box" attached to the wall, a specialized storage unit for the book chips

[Freeshadow]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

The thing is, the people who seek displays of status and those capable of doing things that no one else can aren't necessarily the same people. These days, climbing Mount Everest isn't what it used to be; it's not really a sign of being a great mountaineer. The Sherpas do the work. You can buy some status by climbing Mount Everest, but the easier it gets, the less status it gives. Objects are so much easier to display than actions.

If we had something like Star Trek's replicator, where anyone could have anything they wanted to, it would have economic implications which are difficult to predict accurately. But I think people would still be buying status objects, but what constitutes a status object might well change. There are extremely expensive pens that do not write any better than any other pen. The only advantage they have is that the right sort of people know that you have an expensive pen. Perhaps in a world of replicators, people would get originals as status items, and brag about their item being an original rather than a copy.

Why pen when it can be something more disposable...
Think: moleskin

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

Well, yeah - but the point is that I'm not going to have a pBook for each and every planet.

Hey, maybe there will be a single book on edible flora and fauna throughout the known worlds - Co-written by Heston Blumenthal & David Attenborough

Or better yet, bring along your own edible flora and fauna.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

not what I was thinkiing - just using the calibre display to brag about how many ebooks you have, as a replacement for a wall of shelves.

A picture of your virtual books? I think that a book cover slide show would be more impressive.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

These days, climbing Mount Everest isn't what it used to be; it's not really a sign of being a great mountaineer. The Sherpas do the work.

Even so; I'd be much more impressed by a picture of someone, standing on Everest surrounded by their Sherpas, than I would a picture book about Everest on their shelf.

(And The Most Interesting Man in the World would have carried his Sherpa up after he sprained his ankle.... and convinced a Yeti to snap a picture of it. )

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

That's the point where I see the difference: The displays purpose. I always perceived and intended displayed books or records to be a passive announcement of tastes and interests. Showing off the hardware doesn't help to achieve said goal.

It does, but in another way: It displays the owners' taste in technology and economy, possibly elevating those interests above media specifics like genres.

[QuantumIguana]

True, but an autographed first edition of Don Quixote or a Gutenberg Bible would be impressive.