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If you can see the denuded forests through the trees, you know
that words on paper are here to stay, and that books are a pro-
tected species. If you are immersed in the future but haven't
fallen for all the blather about print's passing, then the thing for
you to do —in the name of creative direction—is to go with the
flow. Which is what John Plunkett, creative director of Wired,
a magazine about digital culture, did when he co-founded
HardWired, the book division of the Wired media conglomer-
ate (recently renamed Wired Books). "Ordinary information
is going to gravitate to electronic media," states Plunkett, "but
extraordinary content is going to remain in the print domain?'
That is why a little more than two years ago HardWired was
founded to make the magazine's mission—"to deliver news
from the future"— both relevant and accessible, in the present.
print's demise have been greatly exaggerated. BY STEVEN HELLER
Time will tell whether or not HardWired can convince
Wired's devoted readership that books are really here
to stay, but for now Plunkett is certain there is a viable
niche for them on the media landscape for the fore-
seeable future. HardWired is documenting the history
of the future by reprinting media classics such as The
Medium is the Massage and War and Peace in the Global
Village by Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore
and originating commentaries on forthcoming waves,
including Jargon Watch: A Pocket Dictionary for the
Jitterati, Mind Grenades: Manifestos from the Future
and Bots: The Origins of a New Species.