I remember staring at the monitor of my father’s Kaypro computer while the green cursor inched its way across the screen, like a phosphorescent snail with a faintly glowing track. 300 bauds of modem power pushed it along. It didn’t seem possible that the cursor could move any faster; its pace seemed preordained, as though written in ancient runes. I liked to watch it. Its speed was fine with me.

When I was a little older, the cursor moved at 600 bauds. This irritated me: if it was possible for the cursor to move faster, why didn’t the computer people make it do that before and spare my family the hassle of buying a new modem?

When I saw the cursor move at 900 bauds, a window opened up in my mind. The cursor’s speed was open to negotiation. It wasn’t preordained; it could be enticed, encouraged, cheered on. You could trick and taunt it, make it deliver information more quickly. You could hop on its back and kick it until it giddyapped forward.

Then the changes came in a torrent. The molasses-slow bulletin boards became the Internet. Computer screens danced with color. Phones shrank. Modems tripped over themselves in an effort to make one another obsolete: 1200 baud, and 28K, and 56K, then ethernet connections and T1 lines.

And on some days, I find myself almost painfully impatient. I want the data to crackle and spit; I want it to be explosive; I want it to shoot through me like steam through high-pressure hoses. I want to just wish it and data will appear; I want to react to information like a synapse, zipping from one byte to another. I want to know and see things before I even know I want to know and see them. I know now that there’s no end to what I can learn and see, and no limit on how fast it can happen.

Then there’s other days. On those days, I sit on a bench in the Piedmont Rose Garden. The smell of the plants is so strong that it’s almost a color. People shuffle around me. It doesn’t seem possible that they could move any faster; their pace seems preordained, as though written in ancient runes. I like to watch them. Their speed is fine with me.