ABSTRACT

One of Tom Wilson's 1971 cartoons shows Ziggy studying a computer printout card. The card reads “I think; therefore, I am.” I have shown this cartoon to school educators, administrators, nursing educators, and others. On each occasion, almost inevitably, in that textured space between the viewers and the text of the cartoon, there erupt muffled chuckles, an enigmatic laughter of sorts, a gesture touched by ambiguity. I am both drawn into the chuckles and puzzled by them. And I wonder: Could these chuckles be a sign of a touch of humour in a high-tech world? High-touch? Low-touch?