The outer limits of silicon science

If you spend a tenth of much time as I do hanging around freshmeat and sourceforge seeing what people are trying to use computers for, you could be forgiven for thinking that there's nothing that can't be done on a motherboard. But I've found something.

Nobody has written a cyber version of the Ouija board for computers. Not a serious version anyway. The nearest I found was a 'how-to convert your 2Gb ipod to communicate with the dead'. If only I had an ipod, but I'm not gadget-conscious enough.

So why hasn't anyone got a virtual planchette up for grabs? There's been computerised I-ching programs since BASIC was invented, horoscope programs, even Tarot readings. But something has kept the unshaven coffee-swilling chain-smoking deranged lone programmer types well away from talking to the spirits.

It could be that geeks don't believe in the afterlife. It could be that the Ouija board requires at least two people to make it work properly, and computer programmers are antisocial types who can only communicate by the keyboard and mouse.

Or it could just be that the dead still haven't learnt how to switch on and log in.