As we do not know what the future will bring us, we create our versions of what lies ahead using the building blocks of the past. Whether in futurology or science fiction, visions of future media mostly involve scenes where man and machine merge to become one. Translation computers make it possible to understand other languages, libraries transform into a virtual matrix of knowledge. Communication via media networks gives birth to a new social environment in Cyberspace.
Human consciousness flows into the world of data and becomes part of a global brain. Evolution causes us to amalgamate with our simulated realities. And yet the spectre of censorship and the suppression of freedom of opinion haunt our scenarios of the future: no books – whether printed or digital – means no future.
German Museum of Books and Writing "Signs - Books - Networks"