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heart havok
17-04-01, 08:39 AM
i personally found the site "thought experiments lain" definitely full of the most well researched theories of Serial Experiments Lain so i decided to create threads discussing Lawrence Eng's wonderfull descriptions on different topics. i would add my opinions, but there's not much for me to add seeing as he himself has pin-pointed my own personal theories on the series to almost perfection. where i disagree i will make note, and i will add additional opinions as time goes on.

Originally written by Lawrence Eng (http://www.cjas.org/~leng/lain.htm)

Navi

The apparently ubiquitous brand of personal computers that most people use in the world of serial experiments lain. They include both desktop models and handhelds (mobile Navis). Navis are linked to the Wired.

Interpretation:

"Navi" is most likely a contracted form of "Knowledge Navigator." John Sculley, the CEO of Apple from 1983 to 1993, described the Knowledge Navigator in his book titled Odyssey (1987). The Knowledge Navigator was his vision of Apple computers in the 21st Century. Accurately predicting many of the changes eventually brought about by the World Wide Web, the hypothetical Knowledge Navigator would allow people to communicate with each other from anywhere in the world, would be connected to a vast shared hypertextual (Sculley cites Ted Nelson in reference to hypertext) database of information (like the Web or the Wired), and would also utilize intelligent agents or artificial intelligences to actively search out information of interest.

The Knowledge Navigator Sculley envisioned in 1987 would be suited for multimedia applications, utilizing large, high-definition, flat-display screens to support text, full-color, graphics, and computer generated animations. It would also feature high-fidelity sound, speech synthesis, and speech recognition. Sculley emphasized that the Knowledge Navigator would not need to take any specific form; it could be a desktop computer, a handheld, or even built into one's clothing.

Eventually, Sculley would implement some of his Knowledge Navigator ideas into the Newton, Apple's more-or-less unsuccessful PDA (personal digital assistant). The Knowledge Navigator concept was promoted in a video called "The Knowledge Navigator: Technologies to Get Us There and Beyond" as well as a shorter commercial for general consumption.

John Sculley's vision of the Knowledge Navigator, even if not fully realized, was important for the technologies it inspired as well as predicting the change of the personal computer's role as a productivity tool to one which is used to mediate information exchange and transfer.

Other Apple Computer references in serial experiments lain include Copland, Lain's old Navi, Alice's iMac, BeOS, Openstep, nExt, and "think different".

Drizzten
17-04-01, 11:20 PM
The Knowledge Navigator Sculley envisioned in 1987 would be suited for multimedia applications, utilizing large, high-definition, flat-display screens to support text, full-color, graphics, and computer generated animations. It would also feature high-fidelity sound, speech synthesis, and speech recognition. Sculley emphasized that the Knowledge Navigator would not need to take any specific form; it could be a desktop computer, a handheld, or even built into one's clothing.

In essence, this is a Web browser. Software (open-source?) that doesn't need a particular foundation for it to stand upon to work. Internet Explorer will compile HTML code from any compliant server on the planet, and it can do it through laptops, other servers, desktops, PDAs, and eventually cell phones.

It's interesting here because after Microsoft began bundling IE with Windows, every new PC buyer received a Web browser...it became "ubiquitous" for Windows-based PCs.

heart havok
18-04-01, 05:43 PM
in a sense, this is possibly the 'Software (open-source?)' that Lain is using via Wired to search information on the Knights of Eastern Calculus, ne?

when you see

<<searching>>

<<searching>>

<<searching>>

<<think different>>

..etc?

do you think we'd ever be able to get that "inside" our own computers' worlds?

Yumiko
18-04-01, 08:29 PM
---sorry, i double posted

Yumiko
18-04-01, 08:44 PM
Originally posted by Drizzten
...and eventually cell phones.


look at my kawaii new J-phone... :p i cant wait until 3G launch!

heart havok
19-04-01, 05:50 AM
haha

nice Yumi-chan.

is it fully equipped with access to the Wired?

Yumiko
19-04-01, 09:14 AM
yes. the screen is a web-browser. though currently limited... -_- web-access can be ordered.

3G is gonna be a new wireless network that will allow transfer rates up to 384Kbps

broadband on a cellphone... i can't wait...

Drizzten
19-04-01, 12:56 PM
Does it have a jack for an external video source? Sony has the Glasstron (http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/consumer/ss5/home/glasstronrtm/glasstronrtm/index.shtml) headset system...combine that with high-speed Net access and a cell phone...:D:up:

Access anywhere.