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20 years of Cactus and Adventures

    Dear Readers,

    In the Internet era, it seems anachronistic to continue wasting paper by publishing books and journals and distributing them, always at the mercy of international, now private Post offices, more prone to increase their rates and profits than to make sure of the safe delivery of our mail. We are told that the future is in digital books and virtual pages, but I am not so sure of that..

    Today, everybody, or almost everybody, has the world in his pocket, can communicate practically everywhere in real time, have the information he wishes, and work in group without ever meeting others, etc.

    With its qualities and its defects, the Internet became the mirror of the human being, capable of the best as well as the worst: it is the reflection of their soul, their desires, their weaknesses, their bad as well as their good actions.

    At the same time, I have the impression that the era of advanced communication opened diametrically opposed results, especially for the youth of the world: the SMS creates total illiterates who do not know how to express themselves any more except through codes. Mobile phones ever more isolate young people who have little verbal contact with their parents. Once a real good broadcast of television united the family but that now is a rarity.

    With the era of the computer, we began communicating by means of tools, today, we are the slaves of these tools, we speak more to machines and robots than to real people. Moreover, it is so true that we are always surprised when a real human being answers us from a phone or aviation company, or a public administration.

    More and more virtual agencies appear. How many Web sites are now without a real mailing address? In only one word, these sites are like ‘ghosts’. Who can get his money back from a virtual bank which goes away with all the savings? However, everybody knows where you live, “thanks” to Google Earth. We install cameras everywhere “to protect” us — or to watch us, that depends on how we look at it. The Agency for Data Protection is the most beautiful subtlety which has been created to put us to sleep.

    Finally, here some contradictions to say to you: be watchful, 2010 certainly still promises us some new, unexpected cybernetic surprises.

    Nevertheless, I am going to continue writing and to meet you in person at congresses. Long live cactus!

    Happy New Year for 2010!