Commonly Understood Gestures

These are fascinating times. All these peripheral devices - television, telephone, telecomputer - that we have been using and thinking about in just one way, are now morphing into one another, forcing us to reconceptualize the whole situation.

Now, we think of buying something in a store as very different from buying it on-line. But soon that distinction will fade away, when you can go to a store to buy things and the people there help you see everything - they are show people, in show business - but they don't sell you anything or ring up a sale. You do that yourself. When you see something you want, you call it up and make the transaction. You do that all day long for different aspects of your life. Two people will be able to interact without ever speaking directly to each other. They will perform simple combinations of commonly understood gestures, while each speaks only to himself.