hyperland 1 of 5

[henryporter101]

Sadly,the English cricket team is no longer in deep trouble.

[achan1058]

From this moment on, Clippy is born.

[ysplse]

Douglas Adams Prescient as ever

[pr0kris]

Curiously, the only thing that went through the mind of Douglas Adam when Tom Baker said "Come on, interact with me", was "Oh no, not again"

[longmind]

Dude! Dr Who came out of the TV to take Douglas Adams to the future!

[yuriythebest]

INTERNET SUCKS!! disliked video.

sidenote: yo dawg we heard you like the internets so we put an

[wecaan]

the 43rd person to like this video will end the world.

[OverNineThousand2]

42 people have liked this video!

[nichr0n]

where can i get the tom baker application?

and how much does it cost?

[mecotterill]

OMG!! DNA + TOM BAKER!!!!!

[smocnairethne]

I just totally freaked out when Tom Baker popped up.

"*manages not to spit out food* IT'S TOM BAKER! o.o"

[ZachValkyrie]

it's the doctor!!!!

[drfunkensteineire]

"Instant access to every piece of information stored digitally anywhere in the world", a fascinating concept. I wish there was some sort of tool or machine that could help me avail of such a plethora of knowledge...but since I can't think of any thing like that this off hand, I think I'll just go watch a fat kid get catapulted into the air at a carnival.

[josephdrew87]

What would be great if there was some way of watching televisual material without a tv. Like some intersubjective free-access resource where you could watch the material you want to when you want, create your own or share others' material.

It is so bizarra dn so utterly Douglas that this is basically a documentary about! This is even from before Tim Berners Lee's singular notion of the World wide web: combining the internet and hypertext. Without him the internet would not have hyperlinks.

[DracoHouston]

I googled "far too silly" looking for a picture of the colonel from monty python, 7 links through 3 sites later I'm watching a documentary on hypertext.

[josephdrew87]

Thank Tim Berners Lee of CERN for that. Without him you would never have been able to do that.

[Keeper1st]

Gosh, I remember Douglas talking about writing this on alt.fan.douglas-adams, way back when (i.e., the '80s). I always wanted to see the finished product, but never was able to. Never thought to search for it here... It all seems so normal viewed from today's perspective, but of course this was when we were using 300- or 1200-baud modems, the internet was entirely text-based, and the only sort of hypertext in use was Gopher, and it wasn't very popular.

[alephnaughtpix]

I actually remember seeing this when it was broadcast and thinking "Wouldn't it be cool if this actually happened?" Looking back on it now, it's surprising how much it got right.

[swimminglyfilms]

I know I've already posted twice -- but I find this fascinating, and what I also find fascinating is that I was born into the "internet generation"; I can't imagine a reality without the creation.  When I was 5, I remember a huge tumult of excitement at my grandparents' as they sent off their first e-mail. But it's amazing how, like television, people have already abused the internet and don't see the wealth of value and information within it

[swimminglyfilms]

The "agent" sounds a good deal like the doors on the Heart of Gold. xD

[AgentNick42]

In many respects he still is. Even after his untimely and tragic death he still contributes to our society in a way that many still can not fully appreciate.

[swimminglyfilms]

Agreed.

[hollyhillian]

Many thanks for sharing this.

Douglas was a genius.