LOTF, Library of the Future.
In past years the California State University System has "Deselected" well over 2 million print items, and in coming years plans on 'deselecting' many millions more, the goal is 60% of all print in the 22 libraries of the CSU, or about 18 million Books!
Should we rely on AI and computer storage as the repository of all human knowledge?
Retired Air Force officer Bill Astore writes the following about this story:
Rollerball, with its emphasis on violent sports, hedonism, and corporate rule, where centuries of history get misplaced with a shrug, seems to have been more than prescient. Who knew in 1975, a half-century ago, that the NFL would become so huge, so dominant, so closely aligned with corporate and military imperatives? Who knew that corporations would become “citizens” with free-speech rights that are only limited by the amounts of money at their disposal? Who knew that America would become the number one exporter of energy again, embracing fossil fuels with gusto even as global warming accelerates?
James Caan’s character in Rollerball, Jonathan E., is willing to fight hard for answers that his corporate overlords wish to keep secret. He literally wants to do his own research! But that is a privilege he is not allowed to exercise. So he revolts in the only way open to him—through the game. Through Rollerball.
Interestingly, in 1975 critics didn’t think highly of Rollerball. Not everyone likes violent movies centered on macho sports, of course. But that’s not what Rollerball is about. It’s about a society controlled by corporate entities through bread and circuses. A society where information is tightly restricted, where people are encouraged to look the other way, to not think too hard, to accept passively the decisions of “The Executive Directorate” in the name of comfort and convenience. Nations are obsolete—authoritarian oligarchs control everything.
The oligarchs sell this as utopia; Jonathan E. is not so sure. He wants to learn some history so he can get a sense of how this all came to pass, and whether humans can do better. He senses there’s more to freedom than visits to Disney and shopping. And you might say he learns the lesson of Orwell from 1984: Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.
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