Moran is an instructor of English and American literature. In this essay, Moran examines the ways in which Borges's story reads like a prophecy of modern telecommunications technology.

In 1995, Bill Gates, the world-renowned founder of Microsoft and personal computing visionary, published The Road Ahead, his study of computing history and examination of the ways in which computers will transform the lives of people all over the world. His enthusiasm for what is now commonly called the Information Age is found on every page, particularly in those where he speaks (almost in a hushed awe) of the ways in which computers will surmount space and time—those two pesky and seemingly insurmountable barriers that humans have tried to dodge since time immemorial. Gates argues that the phrase "information highway" is an inadequate metaphor, since it suggests "landscape and geography, a distance between points, and embodies the implication...