John Jennings, Numinbah
Seventy years ago I could walk down to a red box on a street corner, pop a penny into the box, dial a number and speak to an actual human being.
These days I must first spend a week’s salary on a super sophisticated little computer that knows everything. Then I can talk to a virtual person who knows next to nothing, doesn’t understand plain English, and is more likely to tell me the weather on Mars than whether it will rain today.
I’ve seen people talking to their wrist-watches.
Next year’s miniaturization will probably get it down to the shirt button on your collar. After that, who knows? Perhaps a microscopic chip, inserted into the brain of every baby born, will render getting out of bed in the morning entirely superfluous.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
