In Paris as in New York, on a nice evening, you’ll find people sitting at tables along the edges of restaurants, half indoors and half outdoors. Legally speaking, the tables in Paris are outdoors — because smoking indoors is against the law. By the same principle, the tables in New York are legally indoors — because drinking outdoors is against the law.

[23 September 2017]

Everybody seems to be wired these days, and yesterday I stood on Broadway and took a tally as 100 people walked by. 45 were using a phone or at least had wires in their ears, and 18 were holding a phone without apparently using it. Just 37 showed no sign of an electronic device.

My first thought was, how awful! How sad that we are so wrapped up in our wired worlds! My second thought was, just imagine twenty years from now. We’ll be more networked than ever, but the phones and the wires won’t be visible any more. Our hands will be free and our minds will be who knows where.

[22 September 2017]