What does Douglas Adams have to do with DE anyway?

In Modes of Interaction in Distance Education Anderson discusses 6 types of interactions.
Including human/computer interactions. Sorry but I still think that human/computer interaction is human reaction to the computer interface. The computer is a source of information, I have certain ways of providing input, the computer has certain ways or reacting to the specified input. I do not expect the computer to randomly respond to a random input. If I choose an input the computer does not readily understand, I expect a "ping" or an error message. I do not expect my machine to reply at random.
Its purely a one sided relationship. I may be interacting with the computer but it is not interacting with me.
I immediately think of Douglas Adam's Starship Titanic. This is an interactive CD-Rom game where the computer randomly appears to generate a response. The computer appears to actually react to the user. This gives all of the appearance of true human/computer interaction. In reality its brilliant programming, and several very smart people anticipating what the user may actually input in order to provide well over 16 hours or recorded responses.

Heck, Douglas Adams was just brilliant to the point that with out trying too hard I can apply his writings to all sorts of fun stuff! I used examples from Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul when writing about Shango the Nigerian thunder god. After all the Dirk Gently book revolves around Thor, the Norse thunder god. And that really was not the stretch it sounds like it was. In Salmon of Doubt Adams discusses that personal computers started out as fancy calculators and in a short time became fancy typewriters, and then became a model for things we hadn't even thought of yet. He even mentioned that we could be able to use the computer to help model experiences that we could otherwise have no realistic ability to experience first hand. See with out much effort Adams is applicable to a discussion about Second Life! I miss his wit, and I never had the chance to meet him in person and say "thank you for being brilliant and impacting our lives so much." --Ever have anything translated on the web? do you use babelfsih.com? Do you know what a babel fish is? Its an Adam's creation from the Hitchiker's Guide. Seriously.

Ok back to course design and other fun bits....

I found it interesting that Anderson again brought up the content less interactions is not a desired learning methodology, yet student to student interaction produced the highest satisfactory levels in learning. Thus showing students already think they know what it is they are learning about, and don't really give a toss about actually learning, as long as the appearance of learning is satisfactory.

I really felt that Ch 10 from Anderson's book and Ch 5 from Moore & Kearsley were painfully redundant to each other and to them selves. I am aware that where my brain is while I read this stuff is part of it. But I can't help but wonder how much am I getting in my own way? I had been in a classroom once for an anthropology project before I began my M.Ed. Once. So I was fresh and able to absorb all of the theories. I could not understand how some of the teachers who were getting their master's degrees had conceptual issues with these concepts. I get it now. Some of the information being written is just not applicable to me, specifically, and I have a hard time seeing how to extend it beyond theory. Are these researchers in the field? Ever?
Yes having a team design a course would be peachy-keen, but really? Who is going to get all of these experts to subdue their egos long enough to produce a quality product within the time constraints? AND what institution is going to fund all of this? The author-editor and Lone Ranger models seem to be the most realistic options when developing course material.
Sure there will be limits based on the instructors media capabilities, but....with easier user interface in LMS software, the limits are going to not be so limiting.