“Hyperland” Essay

Douglas Adams could be considered a prophet or a lunatic. I am sure he’s been called both. His “Hyperland” short is amazingly farsighted and contains enough humor to keep it interesting. A work of fiction(?) turned out to be spot on for today’s times. From the beginning you are captured by how many parallels there are, from the economy to the global warming crisis. The age of “interactive” applications is broached with incredible acumen. The agent “Tom” is initially obsequious (my favorite word), is moved to curt, and is finally somewhere in between. He answers all the questions both asked and unasked, just like our internet.

Taking the author through the history of the internet, which, as of then, has not yet been seen to fruition, is so far out that I was staggered by the incredible audacity of the piece. He obviously knew the right people to have pulled this movie off, but holy smokes does he nail our times today! I think it is cool that he was able to place this information out there, and that some people were able to examine it more in depth. Maybe he had some part in the formation of our here and now.