Chapter 11
The enigmatic world of bots and personal agents
Summarising the last two chapters
To try to get away from a people space being a conventional database structure, let's consider what a people space actually does. This has been very well expressed by one of the readers in the virtual cafe of reviewers, Vic Harper, who sent in his summary of the current position as it stood at the end of the last chapter:
I already know there is...
too much information out there to gather or sort
too little time to read all that you want to
too little energy to absorb all that is useful
too much technology to master
too much useless dribble masking the useful
too much redundant efforts
too much lost stuff
I have just learned of a solution that provides .....
a choice of many useful meeting places to meet others that are the 'right' ones for whatever my reason/need
a way to organize the location (addressability) of these places
a nice easy way to create a new space if the need arises (Bottom up and object oriented, sweet)
a way to facilitate me when I'm in that neat little space
a way to put a virtual me into that virtual space
a way to have my clone in many places at once
a way to sort out what is actually useful to me without a lot of energy
a way to save time
Vic Harper isn't visualising a database structure, he is seeing a mental picture of a space that can help him to meet people who might be of value to him.