Dr. Horatio Beaker, D.Sc, F.R.S.

“I’m not quite sure I . . . ah . . . quite follow you, there, Martin?  Why do you say that?”

“Well, let’s think about it.   First of all, we certainly can’t read the Web, or write to it, with the kind of power we have available from a solar panel.  But let’s put that aside for the moment.  Supposing we could do so?  Would we want to?   Remember that our chief aim is to teach children to read, anywhere in the world.   Do we really want them to see whatever happens to be written anywhere on the Internet?   I don’t think so, do you?   And that’s just for a start.”

“Oh, hello, Horatio.   Nice to see you over in this part of the site.  Yes, that’s what everyone will say this year.     A bit later on it will have dawned on the world that blogging and twittering have nothing whatever to do with reading books, and that any reading device, no matter of what kind, is better — and far more saleable — without  ‘Internet capability’ than with it.

“That’s all simply splendid, my dear fellow, but you know what everybody will say, don’t you?  They’ll say that if the Lightbook isn’t connected with the Internet, the idea isn’t going to interest anyone.”

Because the Internet wastes time, and energy . . .