Technology is the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it.

Years ago I came across an advertisement from Tidal Wave Communications that introduced a new computer accessory called Orecchio. It was a headset, using the Telepathic Internet Data Exchange (TIDE) protocol, that enhanced email functionality by enabling you to send your most important thoughts directly from their source: your mind. “Imagine no more keyboards and achy hands. No more eye strain from the glare of the screen. Just visualize the message you want to send, followed by your send command, and poof! Your email is transmitted to our network for quick delivery to its destination.” Enticed by the opportunity to connect my brain directly to the machine, I would have adopted Orecchio without hesitation, if not for the fact that the advertisement was, of course, an April Fools’ joke. The telepathic headset was bogus, but not my realization that truth once again comes out in jest: our minds extend into cyberspace. Years later, research into brain-to-computer and brain-to-brain interfaces suggested that we might indeed control computers with just our minds and perhaps even communicate very simple thoughts and feelings directly between each other's brains via the machine.