Posthuman Blues

Memorable scene today at Starbucks: Some young corporate type was demonstrating the voice-recognition feature on a new slate-style laptop.

The damned thing wouldn't work. "Start Menu," he kept saying, tersely. His clients watched impassively. "Start Menu. Start Menu . . ."

Finally the computer managed to display the Start Menu, upon which the salesman repeated the same routine, this time with "All Programs" . . .

"Voice recognition isn't perfect," I heard him say in a reasonable voice. "But it's getting better."

I sipped my coffee and smiled.