Twenty Five
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We want books, more than ever, but in fact we cannot have more books (our walls are fully lined with bookshelves and they are super heavy), and if we do want another book, we make sure it is something important, something irreplaceable, something we always want to touch and read, over and over again. Big tech offers a lighter than air solution. Electronic storage is the next big real estate, stuff all the books in your computer, your Kindle, or in your omnipresent, omnipotent cell phone. Big tech promises no one needs to move their homes in the future. Just cram yourself in that cubicle with the headset on, and build as many lives (or life-styles) as you want. In the metaverse, you could even talk to Proust and ask him, after his big novel “In Search of Lost Time”, if he’s working on another book. Languidly, he turns towards you with a smile; light, and genuine, slightly melancholic. He says slowly, yes. I’m working on another seven volumes. I have a temp title for it: “In Search of Lost Body”. In the next moment, to your surprise, you detect the epic new novel has already been published, just now, in 2022. Occupying a prominent position on the colossal bookshelf, which appears to be a huge muscular wall, snaking and winding its way for hundreds of miles long.