I just watched I, Robot… You, Jane (Season 1, Episode 8). Woven throughout the story is a debate  between the librarian, Giles, and the computer science teacher, Jenny, about adopting technology. Giles is uneasy about technology: “I don’t think something is good just because it’s new.” (Although many Buffy episodes feature a hacker, Willow, who provides Giles with critical assistance using the library’s computer.)

Jenny explains that technology is creating a new society. Her students echo this: “The printed page is obsolete. Information isn’t bound up anymore. It’s an entity. If you’re not jacked in you’re not alive.” Giles is horrified. (And that particular student later gets killed by a nasty demon.) Near the end of the show Jenny asks Giles why he has such an aversion to computers:

Jenny: Honestly, what is it about them that bothers you so much?
Giles: The smell.
Jenny: Computers don’t smell, Rupert.
Giles: I know. Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower, or a-a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell musty and-and-and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is a – it, uh, it has no-no texture, no-no context. It’s-it’s there and then it’s gone. If it’s to last, then-then the getting of knowledge should be, uh, tangible, it should be, um, smelly.

Clearly I love my computer. And sometimes I hate it. Have not been sniffing my books enough lately. Something to think about.