Web Sites Let Folks Send E-Mail to Future

[jefferson_dem]

Web Sites Let Folks Send E-Mail to Future

By NAHAL TOOSI
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- In the year 2009, on the 25th of April, a man named Greg is supposed to get an e-mail. The e-mail will remind Greg that he is his best friend and worst enemy, that he once dated a woman named Michelle, and that he planned to major in computer science.

"More importantly," the e-mail says, "are you wearing women's clothing?"

The e-mail was sent by none other than Greg himself - through a Web site called FutureMe.org.

The site is one of a handful that let people send e-mails to themselves and others years in the future. They are technology's answer to time capsules, trading on people's sense of curiosity, accountability and nostalgia.

"Messages into the future is something that people have always sought to do," said Paul Saffo, director of the Institute for the Future. "In a way, it's a statement of optimism."

<SNIP>

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FUTURE_E_MAILS?SITE=MIPON&SECTION=TECHNOLOGY&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-12-18-13-12-30

- website link -> http://www.FutureMe.org

[Spinzonner]

1. Greg will have changed his email address

and the message will have disappeared into the void.