Frank Schirrmacher on the iPad as a turning point

Apple's iPad could have an impact both on people's online communication habits as well as on the ideologies and metaphors of the internet, writes Frank Schirrmacher in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: "We need to understand that almost all technological innovations in the digital sector have led to cognitive changes. They have resulted in boundless creativity as long as the systems were open and everyone could participate in their evolution. But the democratisation of the computer now shows that most people wants things to be simpler and don't want to drown in the flood of data and commands. So convenience, transparency, and freedom from viruses come first even if it means having a new central government. Monitoring that government is above all the task of the media. Steve Jobs' iPad signals the transition from the revolutionary phase in computer technology to a restoration period. ... Whatever becomes of the gadget the Apple founder has presented, it tells us nothing other than that the hardware changes the content. The tool changes our way of thinking."

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