On Fri, May 2, 2014 at 11:44 PM, Timothy Collinson <timothy.collinson@port.ac.uk> wrote:


I recall when it was so highly touted that 'qwerty' was seen as a soon-to-be forgotten relic.

I type Dvorak and LOVE it but I don't expect it to ever take over. Anyone can use it on any computer without even having to pay. It makes typing feel like you have psychic powers. I would expect typing to die out within 20 years for most people as voice tech becomes much better. I am sure that some will continue with typing but only the pros of certain fields.

I'm not convinced.

Even if voice tech were perfect now I simply *can't* use it for writing on the bus; taking notes in meetings, conferences or sermons; or even typing in bed like now with wife trying to read beside me.  And I hardly feel like a pro at anything.  

How far are we from subvocalisation or the 'hush hood' I vaguely recall from SF of days gone by (maybe Asimov or Heinlein)?


Reminds me of the Star Trek IV scene where Scotty tries to talk to a computer through the mouse, then has to be told to use the keyboard.

I would expect keyboards to disappear at higher TLs. But in a multi-TL interstellar society as the 3I, travellers would have to use them now and then, at the very least every time they visit a TL9- world. Which actually is an argument against interstellar standards on such "low-tech" keyboards, think QWERTY vs DVORAK to the power of ten. Since "interstellar standards" would be keyboard-free, why force low tech planets/polities to embrace a specific pattern? I would expect a lot of drift.

We actually have a bit of drift already. My German Keyboard is not "QWERTY". It's "QWERTZ". The Z and the Y are exchanged in all the German-Speaking world. Every time I go to Spain or come back to Germany from Spain, my first few quick emails will have all Ys and Zs interchanged before I realize it.

Imagine the possibilities if the PCs are used to a standard and find themselves in a world with a similar but slightly different one...

Security dettachment: "But you wrote to be as wild as possible, so we used high explosives..."
PC: "Mild! As mild as possible!"

Diplomatic delegation: "But your quick-text said to yield authority over (to) them, so we agreed to all the colonists' claims!"
PC: "Wield authority over them! Wield!!!"

Spy: "But you message said to seduce them..."
PC (exasperated): "Reduce!!!"

Carlos Alos-Ferrer
Professor of Economics, University of Cologne
http://www.decisions.uni-koeln.de