Stupid idea about the future (chatblogmailsearchessay)

It occurred to me tonight while I was speaking to someone who was occasionally staring into their phone, pressing the buttons hard as I spoke, presumably transcribing my amazing idea about the future to someone else, or maybe actually sending an email that I inspired with the word “vertical,” that someday, given the way artificial intelligence is going, we’ll all have one window in which to type everything.

The computer (presumably, of course, google) will be in charge of figuring out where it should go (email, tweet, blog, chat, search, essay). It’s like a reverse news filter. You speak andwhatever you say goes in the appropriate direction.

Maybe we’ll even have a pen, and whatever we write anywhere will do that. We’ll all have to relearn handwriting, except instead of following the instructions of our third grade homeroom teacher, we’ll need to go by google’s rules. (The l has to start at the top, not the bottom!!)

There’ll be more writing on bathroom walls again.

Because really, who wants to have to think about WHERE to write your thoughts. Just for WHOM and WHAT.

And yet, what if the system malfunctions? What if instead of going into a private email to one person your message about last night or your big pet store business idea or your illicit love letter or secret plot hits twitter or whatever? Entire relationships, economies, shipping fleets, are ruined with the stroke of a laser pen.