Technology in Eastern Standard Tribe

I thought this was an interesting article. It deals with the same technology as the novel, only on a smaller scale. The man featured in the story liked the idea of broadcasting his choice of music to other cars around him. I think it would be cool to experiment with this idea of pirate radio. I have XM radio and people have told me that they are able to pick up my signal sometimes coming from my FM modulator. So I am broadcasting my choice of music to those in vehicles around me if they happen to stubble across the right channel.

I think that it would neat to expand this technology in the way Doctorow does in the novel. The general public would really get involved in developing this technology I believe, but the government might not be so keen. Advancement of this technology has all of the trademarks of another Napster-like case. With people freely distributing music from car to car, people will surely pull the copyright card. Even with all of the potential problems; I believe that companies should explore the possibility of incorporating this technology as an added feature when purchasing a vehicle even if there is a minimal monthly fee to share your tunes with others.

Mount Question

The thing that interested me most about the Mount is how the human mounts are very similar to horses. They are bred and their lineage is tracked just like horses used for racing and they even have bits similar to that of which are put on horses. I was wondering if this was what you were trying to portray the humans as, as just animals rather then human beings? Did you get your idea from racehorses? This idea captivated me throughout the book.