[jp]

Fax and email as services does not really age. They are simply integrated as servers, messaging applications and printers. A VCR is now Netflix minus the record button. Byproducts of the underlying network topography, storage options and short term legal agreements. A future without fax is a service restriction, not modernity.

[johnchristopher]

You are missing the point. The __words__ `FAX and email` in fiction (especially Sci-Fi) are at a much higher risk to age and disappear or seem anachronistic than `ridulian crystal` wich has zero chance of ever getting old since it's a made-up word that can refer to any imaginary artifacts or underlying tech.

> A VCR is now Netflix minus the record button.

And `ridulian crystal` can be FAX, e-mail, Netflix, kindle and VCR and the next tech whenever you read the book or see a screen adaptation and it won't get old. It's never going to put you back in the real world old where VCR and Faxes are basically dead and unknown by today's teenagers.