[sheeps]

Another relevant one is E.M. Forster's "The Machine Stops":

http://archive.ncsa.illinois.edu/prajlich/forster.html

[jgrahamc]

Thank you both for these suggestions. I recall reading E. M. Forster's story at school and my contribution to English class was that he was wrong about there being a separate button for everything: in reality things would have been multiplexed and the person would have used a keypad or similar :-)

I have not read Walden. Will put it on my Kindle.

[keithpeter]

"I have not read Walden. Will put it on my Kindle"

I think that sentence sort of encapsulates what you are saying in your article. It certainly pulled me up sharp.

[technomancy]

The flip side of this is that without the Kindle, it would have been "I may go pick up a copy from the public library, if I find myself visiting it soon and remember this thread when I'm there."

He's a lot more likely to actually get around to reading it when it's instantly and freely available. Hurrah for the public domain.

[Tichy]

Upvoted for using a Kindle